The archipelago features an Arctic climate, although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude, the flora take advantage of the long period of midnight sun to compensate for the polar night. Svalbard is a breeding ground for many seabirds, and also features polar bears, reindeer, the Arctic fox, and certain marine mammals. Seven national parks and twenty-three nature reserves cover two-thirds of the archipelago, protecting the largely untouched, yet fragile, natural environment. Approximately 60% of the archipelago is covered with glaciers, and the islands feature many mountains and fjords.

Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code "SJ". Both areas are administered by Norway, though they are separated by a distance of over 950 kilometres (510 nautical miles) and have very different administrative structures.

The Svalbard Treaty of 1920[4] defines Svalbard as all islands, islets and skerries from 74° to 81° north latitude, and from 10° to 35° east longitude,[5][6] the land area is 61,022 km2 (23,561 sq mi), and dominated by the island of Spitsbergen, which constitutes more than half the archipelago, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya.[7] All settlements are located on Spitsbergen, except the meteorological outposts on Bjørnøya and Hopen,[4] the Norwegian state took possession of all unclaimed land, or 95.2% of the archipelago, at the time the Svalbard Treaty entered into force; Store Norske owns 4%, Arktikugol owns 0.4%, while other private owners hold 0.4%.[8]

Since Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle it experiences midnight sun in summer and polar night in winter. At 74° north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at 81° are 141 and 128 days;[9] in Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October to 15 February.[5] In winter, the combination of full moon and reflective snow can give additional light.[9]

Glacial ice covers 36,502 km2 (14,094 sq mi) or 60% of Svalbard; 30% is barren rock while 10% is vegetated.[10] The largest glacier is Austfonna (8,412 km2 or 3,248 sq mi) on Nordaustlandet, followed by Olav V Land and Vestfonna. During summer, it is possible to ski from Sørkapp in the south to the north of Spitsbergen, with only a short distance not being covered by snow or glacier. Kvitøya is 99.3% covered by glacier.[11]

Scandinavians possibly discovered Svalbard as early as the 12th century. There are traditional Norse accounts of a land known as Svalbarð—literally "cold shores"—although this might have referred to Jan Mayen, or a part of eastern Greenland.[17][18] It was then thought both Svalbard and Greenland were connected to Continental Europe,[19] the archipelago might in that period have been used for fishing and hunting.[20] The Dutchman Willem Barentsz made the first indisputable discovery of the archipelago in 1596, when he sighted its coast while searching for the Northern Sea Route.[21]

The name Spitsbergen originated with Barentsz, who described the "pointed mountains" he saw on the west coast of the main island, although his 1599 map of the Arctic labels the island as Het Nieuwe Land ("The New Land"). Barentsz did not recognize that he had discovered an archipelago, and consequently the name Spitsbergen long remained in use both for the main island and for the archipelago as a whole.[22]

The first known landing on the island dates to 1604, when an English ship landed at Bjørnøya and started hunting walrus; annual expeditions soon followed, and Spitsbergen became a base for hunting the bowhead whale from 1611.[23][24] Because of the lawless nature of the area, English, Danish, Dutch, and French companies and authorities tried to use force to keep out other countries' fleets.[25][26]

The whaling station of the Amsterdam chamber of the Northern Company in Smeerenburg, by Cornelis de Man (1639), but based on a painting of a Dansk hvalfangststation (Danish whaling station) by A.B.R. Speeck (1634), which represented the Danish station in Copenhagen Bay (Kobbefjorden).

Smeerenburg was one of the first settlements, established by the Dutch in 1619.[27] Smaller bases were also built by the English, Danish and French, at first the outposts were merely summer camps, but from the early 1630s, a few individuals started to overwinter. Whaling at Spitsbergen lasted until the 1820s, when the Dutch, British and Danish whalers moved elsewhere in the Arctic.[28] By the late 17th century, Russian hunters arrived; they overwintered to a greater extent and hunted land mammals such as the polar bear and fox.[29] After British raids into the Barents Sea in 1809, Russian activity on Svalbard diminished, and ceased by the 1820s.[30] Norwegian hunting—mostly for walrus—started in the 1790s, the first Norwegian citizens to reach Spitsbergen proper were a number of Coast Sámi people from the Hammerfest region, who were hired as part of a Russian crew for an expedition in 1795.[31] Norwegian whaling was abandoned about the same time as the Russians left,[32] but whaling continued around Spitsbergen until the 1830s, and around Bjørnøya until the 1860s.[33]

By the 1890s, Svalbard had become a destination for Arctic tourism, coal deposits had been found and the islands were being used as a base for Arctic exploration,[34] the first mining was along Isfjorden by Norwegians in 1899; by 1904, British interests had established themselves in Adventfjorden and started the first all-year operations.[35] Production in Longyearbyen, by American interests, started in 1908;[36] and Store Norske established itself in 1916, as did other Norwegian interests during the war, in part by buying American interests.[37]

Discussions to establish the sovereignty of the archipelago commenced in the 1910s,[38] but were interrupted by World War I,[39] on 9 February 1920, following the Paris Peace Conference, the Svalbard Treaty was signed, granting full sovereignty to Norway. However, all signatory countries were granted non-discriminatory rights to fishing, hunting and mineral resources,[40] the treaty took effect on 14 August 1925, at the same time as the Svalbard Act regulated the archipelago and the first governor, Johannes Gerckens Bassøe, took office.[41] The archipelago has traditionally been known as Spitsbergen, and the main island as West Spitsbergen, from the 1920s, Norway renamed the archipelago Svalbard, and the main island became Spitsbergen.[42] Kvitøya, Kong Karls Land, Hopen and Bjørnøya were not regarded as part of the Spitsbergen archipelago.[43] Russians have traditionally called the archipelago Grumant (Грумант),[44] the Soviet Union retained the name Spitsbergen (Шпицберген) to support undocumented claims that Russians were the first to discover the island.[45][46] In 1928, Italian explorer Umberto Nobile and the crew of the airship Italia crashed on the icepack off the coast of Foyn Island, the subsequent rescue attempts were covered extensively in the press and Svalbard received short-lived fame as a result.

In 1941, after Operation Gauntlet, all Norwegian and Soviet settlements on Svalbard were evacuated,[47] and a German presence was established with a meteorological outpost,[48] although a small Norwegian garrison was kept on Spitsbergen. The German Operation Zitronella took this garrison by force in 1943, and at the same time destroying the settlements at Longyearbyen and Barentsburg;[49] in September 1944, together with the supply ship Carl J. Busch, the submarine U-307 transported the men of Operation Haudegen to Svalbard. Operation Haudegen (i.e., swashbuckler) was the name of a German operation during the Second World War to establish meteorological stations on Svalbard. The station was active from 9 September 1944 to 4 September 1945, it lost radio contact in May 1945, and the soldiers were capable of asking for support only in August 1945. On 4 September 1945, the soldiers were picked up by a Norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain, this group of men were the last German troops to surrender after the Second World War. After the war, the Soviet Union proposed common Norwegian and Soviet administration and military defence of Svalbard, this was rejected in 1947 by Norway, which two years later joined NATO. The Soviet Union retained high civilian activity on Svalbard, in part to ensure that the archipelago was not used by NATO.[50]

After the war, Norway re-established operations at Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund,[51] while the Soviet Union established mining in Barentsburg, Pyramiden and Grumant,[52] the mine at Ny-Ålesund had several fatal accidents, killing 71 people while it was in operation from 1945 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1963. The Kings Bay Affair, caused by the 1962 accident killing 21 workers, forced Gerhardsen's Third Cabinet to resign,[53][54] from 1964, Ny-Ålesund became a research outpost, and a facility for the European Space Research Organisation.[55] Petroleum test drilling was started in 1963 and continued until 1984, but no commercially viable fields were found,[56] from 1960, regular charter flights were made from the mainland to a field at Hotellneset;[57] in 1975, Svalbard Airport, Longyear opened, allowing year-round services.[58]

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union retained about two-thirds of the population on the islands (with a third being Norwegians) with the archipelago's population slightly under 4,000.[52] Russian activity has diminished considerably since then, falling from 2,500 to 450 people from 1990 to 2010.[59][60] Grumant was closed after it was depleted in 1962.[52] Pyramiden was closed in 1998.[61] Coal exports from Barentsburg ceased in 2006 because of a fire,[62] but resumed in 2010,[63] the Russian community has also experienced two air accidents, Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, which killed 141 people,[64] and the Heerodden helicopter accident.[65]

Longyearbyen remained purely a company town until 1989 when utilities, culture and education was separated into Svalbard Samfunnsdrift;[66] in 1993 it was sold to the national government and the University Centre was established.[67] Through the 1990s, tourism increased and the town developed an economy independent of Store Norske and the mining.[68] Longyearbyen was incorporated on 1 January 2002, receiving a community council.[66]

Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the archipelago, the seat of the governor and the only town to be incorporated, the town features a hospital, primary and secondary school, university, sports center with a swimming pool, library, culture center, cinema,[62] bus transport, hotels, a bank,[69] and several museums.[70] The newspaper Svalbardposten is published weekly.[71] Only a small fraction of the mining activity remains at Longyearbyen; instead, workers commute to Sveagruva (or Svea) where Store Norske operates a mine. Sveagruva is a dormitory town, with workers commuting from Longyearbyen weekly.[62]

Ny-Ålesund is a permanent settlement based entirely around research. Formerly a mining town, it is still a company town operated by the Norwegian state-owned Kings Bay. While there is some tourism there, Norwegian authorities limit access to the outpost to minimize impact on the scientific work.[62] Ny-Ålesund has a winter population of 35 and a summer population of 180,[72] the Norwegian Meteorological Institute has outposts at Bjørnøya and Hopen, with respectively ten and four people stationed. Both outposts can also house temporary research staff.[62] Poland operates the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund, with ten permanent residents.[62]

Barentsburg is the only permanently inhabited Russian settlement after Pyramiden was abandoned in 1998. It is a company town: all facilities are owned by Arktikugol, which operates a coal mine; in addition to the mining facilities, Arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop, catering for tourists taking day trips or hikes from Longyearbyen.[62] The village features facilities such as a school, library, sports center, community center, swimming pool, farm and greenhouse. Pyramiden features similar facilities; both are built in typical post-World War II Soviet architectural and planning style and contain the world's two most northerly Lenin statues and other socialist realism artwork.[73] As of 2013[update], a handful of workers are stationed in the largely abandoned Pyramiden to maintain the infrastructure and run the hotel, which has been re-opened for tourists.

The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 established full Norwegian sovereignty over the archipelago, the islands are, unlike the Norwegian Antarctic Territory, a part of the Kingdom of Norway and not a dependency. The treaty came into effect in 1925, following the Svalbard Act. All forty signatory countries of the treaty have the right to conduct commercial activities on the archipelago without discrimination, although all activity is subject to Norwegian legislation, the treaty limits Norway's right to collect taxes to that of financing services on Svalbard. Therefore, Svalbard has a lower income tax than mainland Norway, and there is no value added tax. There is a separate budget for Svalbard to ensure compliance. Svalbard is a demilitarized zone, as the treaty prohibits the establishment of military installations. Norwegian military activity is limited to fishery surveillance by the Norwegian Coast Guard as the treaty requires Norway to protect the natural environment.[6][74]

In September 2010 a treaty was made between Russia and Norway fixing the boundary between the Svalbard archipelago and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Increased interest in petroleum exploration in the Arctic raised interest in a resolution of the dispute, the agreement takes into account the relative positions of the archipelagos, rather than being based simply on northward extension of the continental border of Norway and Russia.[86]

The three main industries on Svalbard are coal mining, tourism, and research; in 2007, there were 484 people working in the mining sector, 211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year, the mining gave a revenue of NOK 2.008 billion (227,791,078 USD), tourism NOK 317 million (35,967,202 USD) and research NOK 142 million (16,098,404 USD)[68][87] In 2006, the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700—23% higher than on the mainland.[88] Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees; there are only a few privately owned houses, most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this, it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution.[82]

Since the resettlement of Svalbard in the early 20th century, coal mining has been the dominant commercial activity. Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, a subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry, operates Svea Nord in Sveagruva and Mine 7 in Longyearbyen. The former produced 3.4 million tonnes in 2008, while the latter uses 35% of its output to Longyearbyen Power Station. Since 2007, there has not been any significant mining by the Russian state-owned Arktikugol in Barentsburg. There have previously been performed test drilling for petroleum on land, but these did not give satisfactory results for permanent operation, the Norwegian authorities do not allow offshore petroleum activities for environmental reasons, and the land formerly test-drilled on has been protected as natural reserves or national parks.[68] In 2011, a 20-year plan to develop offshore oil and gas resources around Svalbard was announced.[89]

Svalbard has historically been a base for both whaling and fishing. Norway claimed a 200-nautical-mile (370 km; 230 mi) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Svalbard in 1977,[8] with 31,688 square kilometres (12,235 sq mi) of internal waters and 770,565 square kilometres (297,517 sq mi) of EEZ.[90] Norway retains a restrictive fisheries policy in the zone,[8] and the claims are disputed by Russia.[4] Tourism is focused on the environment and is centered on Longyearbyen. Activities include hiking, kayaking, walks through glacier caves and snowmobile and dog-sled safari. Cruise ships generate a significant portion of the traffic, including both stops by offshore vessels and expeditionary cruises starting and ending in Svalbard. Traffic is strongly concentrated between March and August; overnights have quintupled from 1991 to 2008, when there were 93,000 guest-nights.[68]

Research on Svalbard centers on Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund, the most accessible areas in the high Arctic, the treaty grants permission for any nation to conduct research on Svalbard, resulting in the Polish Polar Station and the Chinese Arctic Yellow River Station, plus Russian facilities in Barentsburg.[91] The University Centre in Svalbard in Longyearbyen offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses to 350 students in various arctic sciences, particularly biology, geology and geophysics. Courses are provided to supplement studies at the mainland universities; there are no tuition fees and courses are held in English, with Norwegian and international students equally represented.[67]

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a seedbank to store seeds from as many of the world's crop varieties and their botanical wild relatives as possible. A cooperation between the government of Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the vault is cut into rock near Longyearbyen, keeping it at a natural −6 °C (21 °F) and refrigerating the seeds to −18 °C (0 °F).[92][93]

One source of income for the area is visiting cruise ships, the Norwegian government has become concerned in recent years about large numbers of cruise ship passengers suddenly landing at small settlements such as Ny-Ålesund, which is conveniently close to the barren-yet-picturesque Magdalena Fjord. With the increasing size of the larger ships, up to 2000 people can potentially appear in a community that normally numbers less than 40, the government has recently passed legislation, effective from January 2014, severely restricting the size of cruise ships that may visit.

Snowmobiles are an important mode of transport in Svalbard, such as here at Longyearbyen.

Within Longyearbyen, Barentsburg, and Ny-Ålesund, there are road systems, but they do not connect with each other. Off-road motorized transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter—both for commercial and recreational activities. Transport from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg (45 km or 28 mi) and Pyramiden (100 km or 62 mi) is possible by snowmobile by winter, or by ship all year round. All settlements have ports and Longyearbyen has a bus system.[96]

Svalbard Airport, Longyear, located 3 kilometres (2 mi) from Longyearbyen, is the only airport offering air transport off the archipelago. Scandinavian Airlines has daily scheduled services to Tromsø and Oslo. Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle also has a service between Oslo and Svalbard, operating three or four times a week; there are also irregular charter services to Russia.[97]Finnair announced commencement of service from Helsinki, operating three times a week starting June 1, 2016 and lasting until August 27, 2016, but Norwegian authorities did not allow this route as it was not in bilateral agreement on air traffic between Finland and Norway.[98][99][100]Lufttransport provides regular corporate charter services from Longyearbyen to Ny-Ålesund Airport and Svea Airport for Kings Bay and Store Norske; these flights are in general not available to the public.[101] There are heliports in Barentsburg and Pyramiden, and helicopters are frequently used by the governor and to a lesser extent the mining company Arktikugol.[102]

The climate of Svalbard is dominated by its high latitude, with the average summer temperature at 4 to 6 °C (39 to 43 °F) and January averages at −16 to −12 °C (3 to 10 °F).[103] The West Spitsbergen Current, the northernmost branch of the North Atlantic Current system, moderates Svalbard's temperatures, particularly during winter. Winter temperatures in Svalbard are up to 2 °C (4 °F) higher than those at similar latitudes in Russia and Canada. The warm Atlantic water keeps the surrounding waters open and navigable most of the year, the interior fjord areas and valleys, sheltered by the mountains, have larger temperature differences than the coast, giving about 2 °C (4 °F) warmer summer temperatures and 3 °C (5 °F) colder winter temperatures. On the south of Spitsbergen, the temperature is slightly higher than further north and west, during winter, the temperature difference between south and north is typically 5 °C (9 °F), and about 3 °C (5 °F) in summer. Bear Island has average temperatures even higher than the rest of the archipelago.[104]

Svalbard is where cold polar air from the north and mild, wet sea air from the south meet, creating low pressure, changeable weather and strong winds, particularly in winter; in January, a strong breeze is registered 17% of the time at Isfjord Radio, but only 1% of the time in July. In summer, particularly away from land,[clarification needed] fog is common, with visibility under 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) registered 20% of the time in July and 1% of the time in January, at Hopen and Bjørnøya.[105] Precipitation is frequent, but falls in small quantities, typically less than 400 millimetres (16 in) per year in western Spitsbergen. More rain falls on the uninhabited east side, where there can be more than 1,000 millimetres (39 in).[105]

2016 was the warmest year on record at Svalbard Airport, with a remarkable mean temperature of 0.0 °C (32.0 °F), 7.5 °C (13.5 °F) above the 1961–90 average, and more comparable to a location at the arctic circle. The coldest temperature of the year was as high as −18 °C (0 °F), warmer than the mean minimum in a normal January, February or March. There was also the same number of days with rain falling as snow falling, when there are normally more than twice as many snow days.[106]

Polar bears are the iconic symbol of Svalbard, and one of the main tourist attractions,[109] the animals are protected and people moving outside the settlements are required to have appropriate scare devices to ward off attacks. They are also advised to also carry a firearm for use as a last resort.[110][111] A British schoolboy was killed by a polar bear in 2011.[112] Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land share a common population of 3,000 polar bears, with Kong Karls Land being the most important breeding ground.

The Svalbard reindeer (R. tarandus platyrhynchus) is a distinct sub-species; although it was previously almost extinct, it can be legally hunted (as can Arctic fox).[107] There are limited numbers of domesticated animals in the Russian settlements.[113]

Svalbard has permafrost and tundra, with both low, middle and high Arctic vegetation. 165 species of plants have been found on the archipelago.[107] Only those areas which defrost in the summer have vegetations, which accounts for about 10% of the archipelago.[116] Vegetation is most abundant in Nordenskiöld Land, around Isfjorden and where affected by guano.[117] While there is little precipitation, giving the archipelago a steppe climate, plants still have good access to water because the cold climate reduces evaporation,[105][107] the growing season is very short, and may last only a few weeks.[118]

Svalbard makes a prominent appearance in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman and the corresponding movie; in the novel it is used as a prison for important and powerful people. It is inhabited by Panserbjørne, mighty polar bears that wear armor forged from Sky-Iron. One of the primary characters, Lord Asriel, was imprisoned and manages to flee from Svalbard during the novel.

The fictional towns of Fortitude and Vukobejina, as portrayed in the 2015 TV series Fortitude (from UK's Sky Atlantic), are situated in Svalbard.

In 2015, YouTuberTom Scott visited the island as part of his Amazing Places video series, producing videos on subjects such as the island's gun regulations, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and the Longyearbyen Sundial.[123][124]

In 2016, a ten-part reality series was broadcast on BBC Earth (called Ice Town: Life on the Edge) and BBC Nordic (called Svalbard: Life on the Edge). Filmed in 2015–2016, it focused on the lives of eleven Longyearbyen residents through the passing seasons.[125]

Parts of UK band Clean Bandit's music video for "Come Over" feat. Stylo G was filmed in Svalbard, which was released in 2014.

1.
Spitsbergen
–
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway. Constituting the westernmost bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea, Spitsbergen covers an area of 39,044 km2, making it the largest island in Norway and the 36th-largest in the world. Other settlements, in addition to research outposts, are the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the community of Ny-Ålesund. The island was first used as a base in the 17th and 18th centuries. Coal mining started at the end of the 19th century and several permanent communities were established, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognized Norwegian sovereignty and established Svalbard as a free economic zone and a demilitarized zone. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol remain the mining companies. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, featuring among others the University Centre in Svalbard, no roads connect the settlements, instead snowmobiles, aircraft, and boats serve as local transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear provides the point of entry and exit. The island has an Arctic climate, although significantly higher temperatures than other places at the same latitude. The flora benefits from the period of midnight sun, which compensates for the polar night. Svalbard is a ground for many seabirds, and also supports polar bears, reindeer. Six national parks protect the largely untouched, yet fragile environment, the island has many glaciers, mountains and fjords. Spitsbergen was named by its discoverer, the Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz, the name Spitsbergen, meaning “pointed mountains”, was at first applied to both the main island and the archipelago as a whole. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, English whalers referred to the islands as Greenland, the Spitzbergen spelling was used in English during the 19th century, for instance by Beechey, Laing, and the Royal Society. In 1906, the Arctic explorer Sir Martin Conway thought that the Spitzbergen spelling was incorrect, preferring Spitsbergen as he noted that the name was Dutch and this had little effect on British practice. In 1920, the international treaty determining the fate of the islands was entitled the Spitsbergen Treaty, the islands were generally referred to in the USA as Spitsbergen from that time, although the spelling Spitzbergen was also commonly used through the 20th century. Under Norwegian governance, the archipelago was named Svalbard in 1925, by the end of the 20th century, this usage had become common. The first confirmed and recorded sighting of the island by a European was by Willem Barentsz, the first good map with the east coast roughly indicated, appeared in 1623, printed by Willem Janszoon Blaeu

Spitsbergen
–
Portion of 1599 map of Arctic exploration by Willem Barentsz. Spitsbergen, here mapped for the first time, is indicated as "Het Nieuwe Land" (Dutch for "the New Land"), center-left.
Spitsbergen
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Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west emphasised
Spitsbergen
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Dutch whalers near Spitsbergen by Abraham Storck, (1690)
Spitsbergen
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A 1906 photograph of the Norwegian whaling factory ship Bucentaur in Bellsund, Spitsbergen

2.
Ethnic groups
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive

3.
Governor of Svalbard
–
The Governor of Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago. An important part of the position is to good working relations with the Russian community in Barentsburg. To this end, the organization consists of, a staff section with Russian interpreters and advisors on legal matters, tourism. The offices annual budget is determined by the Norwegian Storting, and runs at about NOK60 million, of which the largest part is used for transportation

Governor of Svalbard
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Unofficial logo of the Governor of Svalbard

4.
Geography of Svalbard
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Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean roughly centered on 78° north latitude and 20° east longitude. The archipelago is the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway, the three main islands in the group consist of Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. There are also a number of islands, such as Barents Island, Kvitøya, Prins Karls Forland, Kongsøya, Bear Island, Svenskøya, Wilhelm Island. There is no land in the island group due to heavy glaciation. There are no trees native to the archipeligo, but there are such as crowberry and cloudberry. The west coast of Spitsbergen remains navigable most of the year, Norway claims a 200 nmi fishery protection zone, but this is not recognized by neighboring Russia. The climate of the Svalbard archipeligo is arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current along the west and this means cool summers and cold winters along the wild, rugged mountainous islands. The high land of the interiors is generally ice covered year round. There are many fjords along west and north coasts Svalbard has many mineral resources, with whale, seal and walrus populations are still far below than they were even two centuries ago. There are a variety of birds in Svalbard including puffin, Arctic skua, kittiwake and fulmar. The gateway to Svalbard is Svalbard Airport, Longyearbyen, the geology of Svalbard C. Michael Hogan. Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus, Globaltwitcher. com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg Geology of Svalbard Database of place names at the Norwegian Polar Institute

5.
Demographics of Svalbard
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Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the range from 74° to 81° north latitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya, administratively, the archipelago is not part of any Norwegian county, but forms an unincorporated area administered by a governor appointed by the Norwegian government. Since 2002, Svalbards main settlement, Longyearbyen, has had a local government. Other settlements include the Russian mining community of Barentsburg, the station of Ny-Ålesund. Svalbard is the northernmost settlement in the world with a permanent civilian population, other settlements are farther north, but are populated only by rotating groups of researchers. The islands were first taken into use as a base in the 17th and 18th centuries. Coal mining started at the beginning of the 20th century, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 recognizes Norwegian sovereignty, and the 1925 Svalbard Act made Svalbard a full part of the Kingdom of Norway. They also established Svalbard as an economic zone and a demilitarized zone. The Norwegian Store Norske and the Russian Arktikugol remain the mining companies in place. Research and tourism have become important supplementary industries, with the University Centre in Svalbard, no roads connect the settlements, instead snowmobiles, aircraft and boats serve inter-community transport. Svalbard Airport, Longyear serves as the main gateway, the archipelago features an Arctic climate, although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude. The flora take advantage of the period of midnight sun to compensate for the polar night. Svalbard is a ground for many seabirds, and also features polar bears, reindeer, the Arctic fox. Seven national parks and twenty-three nature reserves cover two-thirds of the archipelago, protecting the largely untouched, yet fragile, approximately 60% of the archipelago is covered with glaciers, and the islands feature many mountains and fjords. Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ, both areas are administered by Norway, though they are separated by a distance of over 500 nautical miles and have very different administrative structures. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 defines Svalbard as all islands, islets and skerries from 74° to 81° north latitude, the land area is 61,022 km2, and dominated by the island of Spitsbergen, which constitutes more than half the archipelago, followed by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya

Demographics of Svalbard
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The whaling station of the Amsterdam chamber of the Northern Company in Smeerenburg, by Cornelis de Man (1639), but based on a painting of a Dansk hvalfangststation (Danish whaling station) by A.B.R. Speeck (1634), which represented the Danish station in Copenhagen Bay (Kobbefjorden).
Demographics of Svalbard
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Flag
Demographics of Svalbard
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Abandoned aerial tramway previously used for transporting coal
Demographics of Svalbard
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Prins Karls Forland was protected as Forlandet National Park in 1973

6.
Norwegian krone
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The krone, plural kroner, is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. It is subdivided into 100 øre, which exist only electronically since 2012, the name translates into English as crown. The krone was the thirteenth most traded currency in the world by value in April 2010, the krone was introduced in 1875, replacing the Norwegian speciedaler/spesidaler at a rate of 4 kroner =1 speciedaler. In doing so, Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which had established in 1873. After its dissolution, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden all decided to keep the names of their respective, within the Scandinavian Monetary Union, the krone was on a gold standard of 2,480 kroner =1 kilogram of pure gold. This gold standard was restored between 1916 and 1920 and again in 1928 and it was suspended permanently in 1931, when a peg to the British pound of 19.9 kroner =1 pound was established. In 1939, Norway pegged the krone temporarily to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 4.4 kroner =1 dollar, nonetheless, Norway would continue to hold the Kingdoms gold reserves. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the krone was initially pegged to the Reichsmark at a rate of 1 krone =0.6 Reichsmark, after the war, a rate of 20 kroner =1 pound was established. The rate to the pound was maintained in 1949, when the pound devalued relative to the U. S. dollar, in 1875, coins were introduced in denominations of 10 and 50 øre and 1 and 10 kroner. These coins also bore the denomination in the currency, as 3,15. Between 1875 and 1878, the new coinage was introduced in full, in denominations of 1,2,5,10,25, and 50 øre and 1,2, and 10 kroner. The 1,2, and 5 øre were struck in bronze, the 10,25, and 50 øre and 1 and 2 kroner, in silver, the last gold coins were issued in 1910, silver was replaced by cupro-nickel from 1920. Between 1917 and 1921, iron replaced bronze. 1917 also saw the last issuance of 2 kroner coins, during the German occupation in the Second World War, zinc was used in place of cupro-nickel in 10,25, and 50 øre coins, and production of the 1 krone piece was suspended. In 1963,5 kroner coins were introduced, production of 1 and 2 øre coins ceased in 1972. The following year, the size of the 5 øre coin was reduced, production of the denomination ceased in 1982, ten-kroner coins were introduced in 1983. In 1992, the last 10 øre coins were minted, between 1994 and 1998, a new coinage was introduced, consisting of 50 øre,1,5,10, and 20 kroner. These are the coins which are currently legal tender, with the exception of the 50-øre coin which was withdrawn on 1 May 2012

7.
ISO 4217
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The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency

ISO 4217
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An airline ticket showing the price in the ISO 4217 code " EUR " (bottom left) and not the currency sign€
ISO 4217
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A list of exchange rates for various base currencies given by a money changer in Thailand, with the Thailand Baht as the counter (or quote) currency.

8.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead

Coordinated Universal Time
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Key concepts
Coordinated Universal Time
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World map of current time zones

9.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year

10.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone

Central European Summer Time
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light blue

11.
.no
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. no is the Internet country code top-level domain for Norway. Norid, the name registry, is based in Trondheim, is owned by the state-owned Uninett and operates under supervision of the Norwegian Post. As of May 10,2013 there were 583,962 registered. no-domains, organizations with a presence in Norway and registration at the Brønnøysund Register Centre are limited to 100 domains each. Individuals residing in Norway may register in the second-level domain priv. no and, as of June 17,2014, other second-level domains exist for organizations of certain types, such as municipalities and schools. The strict regulations have resulted in near-absence of cybersquatting and warehousing, management of the ccTLD was awarded to Pål Spilling in 1983, but was taken over by Uninett four years later. The 1000th domain was registered in 1995, Norid is the result of several re-organizations within Uninett, in 2003 becoming a separate limited company. Norway has also allocated two other ccTLDs. sj for Svalbard and Jan Mayen and. bv for Bouvetøya, neither are open to registration. Originally only a domain was permitted per organization, and this was manually checked by Norid to ensure compliance with trademark ownership. The regulations were liberalized in 2001, when the process was automated and this resulted in a boom of registrations, with the accumulated registrations exceeding 100,000 in the course of the year. Domain names may consist of the twenty-six basic Latin letters, digits and the hyphen, all-numeric domains were introduced in 2007 and priv. no in 2011. The domain name registry responsibility for. no was in 1983 awarded to Pål Spilling at the Norwegian Telecommunications Administrations Research Institute, the actual registration work was carried out by Jens Thomassen. The first registered domains were tor. nta. no and ifi. uio. no, initially the workload of domain registration was light, but after a few years the workload had become unmanageable as a side project for an individual. Policy-makers also indicated a need for the registration to be managed by a non-commercial organization. The oldest archived zone file dates from 1989 and includes 19 domains, in 1991 and 1992, all state university colleges were connected to the Internet and issued domain names, causing a boom of registrations. The 1000th domain was registered in 1995, Uninett was at first administrated as a division of SINTEF, but was in 1993 transformed to a limited company owned by the Ministry of Education and Research. Norid was established as a division within Uninett in 1996, on 21 August 1997, Norid was given the responsibility for the newly created. sj and. bv domains. Thus Norid also became part of the Uninett FAS portfolio, two organizations were established in 1998, the Domain Resolution Body, to resolve domain disputes, and Norpol, a political advisory board. Domain name registrars were introduced in 1999 to handle aspects that could be provided by a third party, Uninett Norid was in 2003 registered as a limited company owned by Uninett, to secure the management of the domains within an independent organization

.no
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.no

12.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German

Dutch language
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The Utrecht baptismal vow Forsachistu diobolae...
Dutch language
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Distribution of the Dutch language and its dialects in Western Europe
Dutch language
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Second edition of this column decorated with a title of Charles V 's portrait, with archaic Dutch inscriptions
Dutch language
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Dutch language street sign in the Netherlands

13.
Archipelago
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An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi-, in Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Archipelago was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands. It is now used to refer to any group or, sometimes. Archipelagos may be isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which form an archipelago, archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots, but may also be the result of erosion, deposition, and land elevation. Depending on their origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands, continental fragments. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, the Bahamas, Greece, Hawaii, the largest archipelagic state in the world by area and population is Indonesia. Island arc List of landforms List of archipelagos by number of islands List of archipelagos List of islands Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Archipelago

14.
Arctic Ocean
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The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the worlds five major oceans. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean, located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America. It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter, the summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center uses satellite data to provide a record of Arctic sea ice cover. The Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history within a few years or by 2040, for much of European history, the north polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography conjectural. He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as growlers or bergy bits, his Thule was probably Norway, early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land or water. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful cartographers, tended to leave the region blank and this lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England and other European nations, the myth of an Open Polar Sea was persistent, john Barrow, longtime Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this. In the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, the explorers Elisha Kane, even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbook The Physical Geography of the Sea. Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a crossing of the Arctic Ocean. The first surface crossing of the ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, with air support. The first nautical transit of the pole was made in 1958 by the submarine USS Nautilus. Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean, scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes. In World War II, the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested, the Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2, almost the size of Antarctica. The coastline is 45,390 km long and it is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea, countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States. There are several ports and harbours around the Arctic Ocean In Alaska, in Canada, ships may anchor at Churchill in Manitoba, Nanisivik in Nunavut, Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik in the Northwest territories

15.
North Pole
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The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earths axis of rotation meets its surface. The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole and it defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. At the North Pole all directions point south, all lines of longitude converge there, along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere, while the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole, however, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. Since 2002, the Russians have also established a base, Barneo. This operates for a few weeks during early spring, studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage, with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later. The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 m by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m by USS Nautilus in 1958. The nearest land is said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km away. The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent variation of latitude, as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earths surface, the wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the eight-month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer and it is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates to fixed landforms. Of course, given plate tectonics and isostasy, there is no system in all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System. As early as the 16th century, many eminent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea and it was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, one of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82°45′ North. In 1871 the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, another British Royal Navy attempt on the pole, part of the British Arctic Expedition, by Commander Albert H. Markham reached a then-record 83°2026 North in May 1876 before turning back. An 1879–1881 expedition commanded by US naval officer George W. DeLong ended tragically when their ship, over half the crew, including DeLong, were lost

16.
Nordaustlandet
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Nordaustlandet is the second-largest island in the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, with an area of 14,443 square kilometres. It lies north east of Spitsbergen, separated by Hinlopen Strait, much of Nordaustlandet lies under large ice caps, mainly Austfonna and Vestfonna, the remaining parts of the north being tundra inhabited by reindeer and walruses. The island is uninhabited and lies entirely within Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve, english walrus hunters first sighted the south point of Nordaustlandet in 1617. This discovery was shown on the Muscovy Companys map, with the island labeled as Sir Thomas Smyths Iland and it also shows the North Cape. A Dutch map of 1710 was the first to show the island accurately, the rock types in Nordaustlandet stem from many different geological eras. The northern part consists of old crystalline basement, with such as marble, quartzite, mica schist, gneiss. East of Lady Franklinfjorden, on the peninsula Botniahalvøya and east of Duvefjorden there are volcanic rocks, in the east and south of Rijpfjorden the bedrock is made up of distinctive red-coloured granite. The Rijpfjord granite is medium grained, and contains two micas in addition to quartz, plagioclase and pink K-feldspar and it was emplaced in late Silurian times. Layered gabbro and dolerite of Silurian age occur at Kapp Laura in easternmost Nordaustlandet, on the island of Storøya, on Andréeneset, in the southern part of Kvitøya, gneisses and granites are the most common rock types. Four generations of rocks, gneiss, amphibolite, and grey and pink granite are present on Isispynten, south of Wahlenbergfjorden there is a large area with sedimentary rocks – mostly limestone and dolomite – from the Carboniferous and Permian. The youngest rocks in Nordaustlandet are Jurassic–Cretaceous dolerite dikes, which intrude the basement rocks on the island of Lågøya, unconsolidated deposits in Nordaustlandet consist of scree slopes, block fields and raised shore deposits. There are only small amounts of river deposits, the largest strandflats on Nordaustlandet can be found in the north-west, around Murchisonfjorden and on the island of Lågøya. Another large strandflat is Svartknausflya in the south, just west of the glacier of Bråsvellbreen, here, there are raised shore deposits up to 120 m. a. s. l. where ancient whale bones have been found 70 m above today’s sea level. Svartknausflya is also the largest moraine area in Nordaustlandet, it measures about 70 km2, glacial activity has shaped the landscape in Nordaustlandet through several ice ages. Gentle plateaus and rounded mountains are the most common sight, the tallest and steepest mountains, up to 600 m. a. s. l. can be found in the north. The eastern part of Nordaustlandet is covered in glaciers, and there are few areas without ice, between Vibebukta and Kapp Laura, the steep front of the Austfonna ice cap dominates. The glacier has retracted a bit during recent decades, revealing new areas of dry land on the few headlands that can be found around here, Austfonna, including Vegafonna, stretch across an area of 8,450 km2. Austfonna covers approximately 58% of Nordaustlandet, the largest areas with no ice are between Austfonna and Vestfonna and on the peninsulas in the north and north-west of Nordaustlandet

17.
Unincorporated area
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Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. In some countries, such as in Brazil, Japan, France or the United Kingdom, unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. A local government area often contains several towns and even entire cities, thus, aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other special cases, almost all of Australia is part of an LGA. Unincorporated areas are often in locations, cover vast areas or have very small populations. Postal addresses in unincorporated areas, as in parts of Australia. Thus, there is any ambiguity regarding addresses in unincorporated areas. The Australian Capital Territory has no municipalities and is in some sense an unincorporated area, the territorial government is directly responsible for matters normally carried out by local government. The far west and north of New South Wales constitutes the Unincorporated Far West Region, a civil servant in the state capital manages such matters as are necessary. The second unincorporated area of state is Lord Howe Island. In the Northern Territory,1. 45% of the area and 4. In South Australia, 60% of the area is unincorporated and communities located within can receive services provided by a state agency. Firstly, the remote area that is unincorporated is the Abrolhos Islands. Secondly, the unincorporated areas are A-class reserves either in, or close to. In Canada, depending on the province, a settlement is one that does not have a municipal council that governs solely over the settlement. It is usually, but not always, part of a municipal government. This can range from hamlets to large urbanized areas that are similar in size to towns. In British Columbia, unincorporated settlements lie outside municipal boundaries entirely, Unincorporated settlements with a population of between 100 and 1,000 residents may have the status of designated place in Canadian census data. In some provinces, large tracts of undeveloped wilderness or rural country are unorganized areas that fall directly under the provincial jurisdiction

18.
Municipalities of Norway
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Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties, and 426 municipalities. The capital city Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality, law enforcement and church services are provided at a national level in Norway. In 1930, there were 747 municipalities in Norway, as of March 2013 there were 428, and there are plans for further mergers and political pressure to do so. See the list of municipalities of Norway for further detail. The consolidation effort is complicated by a number of factors, since block grants are made by the national government to the municipalities based on an assessment of need, there is little incentive for the municipalities to lose local autonomy. The national policy is that municipalities should only merge voluntarily, each municipality has its own organs, the mayor, and the municipal board. The mayor is the executive organ, the municipal board is the deliberative and legislative organ of the municipality. The members of the board are elected for a 4-year term. List of the most populated municipalities in the Nordic countries Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development

19.
Barentsburg
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Barentsburg is the second-largest settlement on Svalbard, with about 500 inhabitants, almost entirely Russians and Ukrainians. It is the site of the Barentsburg Pomor Museum, named after Dutch explorer Willem Barents, the town is a mining town, with coal mining conducted by the Soviet company Arktikugol since 1932. The population has declined over the decades, in its heyday, although Svalbard is under Norwegian sovereignty, the unique Svalbard Treaty of 1920 allows citizens of signatory countries equal rights to exploit natural resources. Russia, along with Norway, maintains mining operations on Svalbard as a result, Russia maintains a consulate in Barentsburg, the northernmost diplomatic mission of any kind in the world. Barentsburg still has a Norwegian mail address and Norwegian phone numbers, Barentsburg started as a Dutch mining town in the 1920s. In 1932 the Dutch sold their concession to the Soviet Union, since 1932 the Russian state-owned Arktikugol Trust has been operating on Svalbard. The main economic activity is coal mining by the Arktikugol company, the coal is usually exported to Northern European buyers. The town relies entirely on mainland Russia for food and coinage, there have been instances in which not enough food was sent, and aid packages were sent from Longyearbyen. Tourism is now being developed, but does not yet generate enough income to revive the town, the distance from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg is about 55 km but there are no roads connecting the two settlements. Most contact between the two is by boat, snowmobile, or helicopter, there is a heliport with a road connection at Heerodden,4 km north of Barentsburg. Tourists usually arrive via a 2-3-hour boat trip from Longyearbyen, the coal is freighted by ship. The port is located in the middle of Barentsburg, the Barentsburg Pomor Museum presents Pomor culture, Arctic flora and fauna, and archeological objects preserved in the permafrost. It is open when the daily, summer-only boat from Longyear arrives, there is an athletic complex, including a swimming pool with heated seawater. Every summer, several dozen geophysicists, geologists, archeologists, biologists, glaciologists, geographers, etc. from Russia, there is also a year-round meteorological observatory and the northernmost cosmic rays station. Adrian Briscoe completed Dream Town, a film about Barentsburg. From documentary to fiction, the film concludes with a series of resolutions centered on the themes of love, dreams and escapism. Co-written by novelist Ray Robinson, Dream Town won the Best Picture award at both the Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Derby Film Festival, UK in the spring of 2014, coal mining resumed at the end of 2010

Barentsburg
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The town from above
Barentsburg
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Heroic Soviet-style mural on the community centre building, Barentsburg
Barentsburg
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M. Presnyakov. The Barentsburg old church, 2014

20.
Sveagruva
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Sveagruva, or simply Svea, is a mining settlement in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lying at the head of Van Mijenfjord. It is the third largest settlement in the archipelago, currently, around 300 workers living in Longyearbyen commute to Sveagruva for work on a daily or weekly basis. The mine is operated by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani and is served by Svea Airport, the town was established in 1917 by Swedes. It was thereafter destroyed in 1944, but quickly re-established after World War II, the mining activity ceased in 1949, and was not re-established until 1970. In the 1990s, the town nearly vanished, as mines in Longyearbyen proved more productive, mining was suspended for a short period in 1987. In 2005, a fire erupted, lasting uninterrupted for more than five weeks. Today, Sveagruva holds the most productive coal mine of Svalbard, opened in 2001, the mine produces up to 4 million metric tons of coal annually, making it one of the largest underground coal mines in Europe

Sveagruva

21.
Whaling
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Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products like meat, oil and blubber. Its earliest forms date to at least circa 3000 BC, various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually In 1986, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries, notably Japan, Norway, and Iceland, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting, anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Whaling began in times and was initially confined to coastal waters. Early whaling affected the development of disparate cultures – such as Norway. The Basques were the first to catch whales commercially, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is considered to have had little ecological impact. Whale oil is used today and modern commercial whaling is primarily done for food. The primary species hunted are the common minke whale and Antarctic minke whale, recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 in the northeast Atlantic. International cooperation on whaling began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Its aim is to, provide for the conservation of whale stocks. The International Whaling Commission was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas, non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. The IWC voted on July 23,1982, to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWCs Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give proposals for some whale stocks. At the 2010 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco, Japan, Norway and Iceland have urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations has offered a plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the Southern Ocean, opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling, but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by indigenous peoples

22.
Svalbard Treaty
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The Svalbard Treaty or the Spitsbergen Treaty, recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. The exercise of sovereignty is, however, subject to certain stipulations, the treaty regulates the demilitarisation of the archipelago. The signatories were given rights to engage in commercial activities on the islands. As of 2012, Norway and Russia are making use of this right, uniquely, the archipelago is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty. The treaty was signed on 9 February 1920 and submitted for registration in the League of Nations Treaty Series on 21 October 1920. There were 14 original High Contracting Parties, including, the United States, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Several additional nations signed within the five years before the treaty came into force, including the Soviet Union in 1924 and Germany. Of the original signatories, Japan was the last to ratify the treaty on 2 August 1925, on 14 August 1925, the treaty came into force. As of 2016, there are 45 parties to the treaty, the archipelago was discovered by the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz in 1596 and named Spitsbergen, meaning sharp-peaked mountains. The islands were renamed in the 1920s by Norway as Svalbard, spitsbergen/Svalbard began as a territory free of a nation, with multiple people from different countries participating in industries including fishing, whaling, mining, research and later, tourism. However, by the 20th century mineral deposits were found on the main island, the Spitsbergen Treaty was signed in Paris on 9 February 1920, during the Versailles negotiations after World War I. In this treaty, international diplomacy recognized Norwegian sovereignty and other relating to Svalbard. This includes, Svalbard is part of Norway, Svalbard is completely controlled by, however, Norways power over Svalbard is restricted by the limitations listed below, Taxation, This allows taxes to be collected, but only enough to support Svalbard and the Svalbard government. This results in lower taxes than mainland Norway and the exclusion of any taxes on Svalbard supporting Norway directly, also, Svalbards revenues and expenses are separately budgeted from mainland Norway. Environmental conservation, Norway must respect and preserve the Svalbard environment, the residents of Svalbard must follow Norwegian law though Norwegian authority cannot discriminate against or favor any residents of any given nationality. Military restrictions, Article 9 prohibits naval bases and fortifications and also the use of Svalbard for war-like purposes and it is not, however, entirely demilitarized. There has been a dispute, primarily between Norway and Russia over fishing rights in the region. In 1977, Norway established a fishery in a 200-nautical-mile zone around Svalbard

Svalbard Treaty
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Ratifications of the Convention

23.
Demilitarized zone
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A demilitarized zone, DMZ or DZ is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities or personnel. A DMZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary between two or more powers or alliances. A DMZ may sometimes form a de facto border, such as the 38th parallel between North and South Korea. Other examples of demilitarized zones are a 120-mile area between Iraq and Kuwait, Antarctica and outer space, many demilitarized zones are considered neutral territory because neither side is allowed to control it, even for non-combat administration. Some zones remain demilitarized after an agreement has awarded control to a state which had ceded its right to maintain military forces in the disputed territory. Several demilitarized zones have also unintentionally become wildlife preserves because their land is unsafe for construction or less exposed to human disturbances, examples include the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone, and the Green Line in Cyprus. Aegean Islands – The Greek islands of Chios, Icaria, Mytilene, the Treaty forbids all naval fortifications and bases and stipulates that military forces on the islands be limited to the normal contingent called up for military service. The Treaty does however provide for the use of personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose. Ceuta border fence and Melilla border fence – A de facto demilitarized zone exists between the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla and Morocco, perimeter fences around both cities have been constructed by Spanish and Moroccan authorities, creating a demilitarized zone between the Spanish and Moroccan fences. Ground Safety Zone – A5 km -wide demilitarized area between Serbia and Kosovo was created under the Kumanovo Agreement following the Kosovo War, Korean Demilitarized Zone – The Korean Armistice Agreement created a 4 km -wide demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea following the Korean War. It is currently the most heavily guarded area in the world, kuwait–Iraq barrier – The United Nations Security Council approved the creation of a demilitarized zone between Iraq and Kuwait in Resolution 689. Although the demilitarized zone is no longer mandated by the Council, preah Vihear Temple – The International Court of Justice had ordered the creation of a provisional demilitarized zone around the Temple whose ownership is claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand. Sinai Peninsula – The Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty sets a limit to the amount of forces Egypt can place in the Sinai Peninsula, parts of the peninsula are demilitarized to various degrees, especially within 20–40 kilometres of Israel. Israel also agreed to limit its forces within 3 kilometres of the Egyptian border, the areas are monitored by the Multinational Force and Observers. Because of the Sinai insurgency all sides agreed and encouraged Egypt to send large amounts of forces into the area, including tanks and helicopters. Svalbard – The Svalbard Treaty of 1920, which recognized Norwegian sovereignty over the territory, Sudan – A10 km demilitarized zone along the Sudan – South Sudan border. It was authorized by Resolution 186 and is patrolled by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, the zone is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. A neutral territory was established between the British territory of Gibraltar and Spain after the end of the 1727 siege

24.
Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani
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Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, or simply Store Norske, is a Norwegian coal mining company based on the Svalbard archipelago. It was formed in 1916, after a Norwegian purchase of the American Arctic Coal Company, the company has 360 employees and operates two coal mines. The largest one is located in the Sveagruva settlement, about 60 km south of Longyearbyen, the Svea Nord longwall mine has an annual output of 2 million tonnes of bituminous coal. A third of it is sold for metallurgical purposes, the managing director of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani is Per Andersson. The Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani has a port at Cape Amsterdam,15 km from Sveagruva. Hilmar Reksten Einar Sverdrup Robert Hermansen Company website

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

25.
Svalbard Airport, Longyear
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Svalbard Airport, Longyear is the main airport serving Svalbard in Norway. It is located 1.6 nautical miles northwest of Longyearbyen, the first airport near Longyearbyen was constructed during World War II. In 1959, it was first taken into use for occasional flights, construction of the new airport at Hotellneset started in 1973, and the airport was opened on 2 September 1975. It is owned and operated by state-owned Avinor, in 2014, the airport handled 154,261 passengers. Scandinavian Airlines operates daily flights to Tromsø and Oslo in mainland Norway, Lufttransport provides services to the two other airports on Svalbard, Ny-Ålesund and Svea, using Dornier Do 228 turboprop aircraft. There are also charter flights. The first air strip on Svalbard was constructed in Adventdalen, near Longyearbyen and this was not used after the war, during the summer the archipelago was served by ships, but was completely isolated from November to May. In the early 1950s, the Norwegian Air Force started postal flights using a Catalina aircraft that departed from Tromsø and dropped postal parcels at Bear Island and at Longyearbyen. However, these aircraft never landed until 9 February 1959, when a resident had become seriously ill, the mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani cleared the runway at Adventsdalen and the 14-hour flight and landing was successful. A second landing, this time for delivery of post, was made on 11 March, while the Catalina was suitable for postal flights, it was not suitable for a permanent solution for transporting passengers and freight, mainly due to its small size. Store Norske contacted the domestic airline Braathens SAFE for a regular service, the first trial flight was made on 2 April 1959 with a Douglas DC-4 with 54 passengers from Bardufoss Airport. Store Norske cleared a 1,800 by 40 metres runway for the aircraft, the next flight was done in 1962, followed by one in 1963 and two in 1964. Due to lack of lights, flights could only be done during daylight, thus hindering flights during parts of December and January. By April, the runway could melt, and no flights could be done during summer, navigation was conducted using radio signals from Bear Island and Isfjord. The first night landing was made on 8 December 1965, the DC-4 took off from the new Tromsø Airport and dropped mail at Bear Island before continuing to Longyearbyen. The runway was lit up using paraffin lamps and lights from cars parked along the runway, a radio transmitter was also installed at Hotellneset. During the 1965–66 season, Braathens SAFE made 16 flights to Svalbard, the following two seasons, the contract was awarded to Scandinavian Airlines System, but after that they reverted to Braathens SAFE. Olsen Airtransport made its first flight to Svalbard in 1966, by 1969, a total of 50 flights had been made to Svalbard, and by 1972, the 100th was made

26.
Flora of Svalbard
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There are 164 vascular plant species on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. This figure does not include algae, mosses, and lichens, for an island so far north,164 species constitutes an astonishing variety of plant life. Because of the climate and the short growing season, all the plants are slow growing. They seldom grow higher than 10 cm, in some areas, especially in warmer valleys, the plants produce carpets of blossoms. Svalbard has been divided into four vegetation zones

27.
Polar bear
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The polar bear is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear. A boar weighs around 350–700 kg, while a sow is about half that size, although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means maritime bear and derives from this fact, Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of expected habitat loss caused by change, the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. For decades, large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species, for thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of circumpolar peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures. Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a species in 1774. He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for maritime bear, the Inuit refer to the animal as nanook. The Yupik also refer to the bear as nanuuk in Siberian Yupik, the bear is umka in the Chukchi language. In Russian, it is usually called бе́лый медве́дь, though a word still in use is ошку́й. In the Norwegian-administered Svalbard archipelago, the bear is referred to as Isbjørn. The polar bear was considered to be in its own genus. The bear family, Ursidae, is thought to have split off from other carnivorans about 38 million years ago, the Ursinae subfamily originated approximately 4.2 million years ago. The oldest known polar bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110, 000-year-old jaw bone, fossils show that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, the polar bears molar teeth changed significantly from those of the brown bear. Polar bears are thought to have diverged from a population of bears that became isolated during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene or from the eastern part of Siberia. The evidence from DNA analysis is more complex, the mitochondrial DNA of the polar bear diverged from the brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 150,000 years ago. The mtDNA of extinct Irish brown bears is particularly close to polar bears, when the polar bear was originally documented, two subspecies were identified, Ursus maritimus maritimus by Constantine J. Phipps in 1774, and Ursus maritimus marinus by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776. This distinction has since been invalidated, one alleged fossil subspecies has been identified, Ursus maritimus tyrannus became extinct during the Pleistocene

28.
Reindeer
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This includes both sedentary and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare, for this reason, it is considered to be vulnerable by the IUCN. Reindeer vary considerably in colour and size, both sexes can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between population and season. Antlers are typically larger on males, hunting of wild reindeer and herding of semi-domesticated reindeer are important to several Arctic and Subarctic peoples. In traditional festive legend, Santa Clauss reindeer pull a sleigh through the sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. The name Rangifer, which Carl Linnaeus chose for the genus, was used by Albertus Magnus in his De animalibus. This word may go back to a Saami word raingo, for the origin of the word tarandus, which Linnaeus chose as the specific epithet, he made reference to Ulisse Aldrovandis Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia fol. However, Aldrovandi – and before him Konrad Gesner – thought that rangifer, in any case, the tarandos name goes back to Aristotle and Theophrastus – see In history below. Because of its importance to many cultures, Rangifer tarandus and some of its subspecies have names in many languages, the name rein is of Norse origin. The Finnish name poro may also stem from the same, the word deer was originally broader in meaning, but became more specific over time. In Middle English, der meant a wild animal of any kind. Cognates of Old English dēor in other dead Germanic languages have the sense of animal, such as Old High German tior, Old Norse djúr or dýr, Gothic dius, Old Saxon dier. The name caribou comes, through French, from Mikmaq qalipu, meaning snow shoveler, in Inuktitut, spoken in eastern Arctic North America, the caribou is known by the name tuktu. In the western North American Arctic, the used by the Iñupiat is tuttu. Across the range of a species, individuals may display considerable morphological, genetic, COSEWIC developed Designated Unit attribution to add to classifications already in use. The species taxonomic name Rangifer tarandus was defined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the subspecies taxonomic name, Rangifer tarandus caribou was defined by Gmelin in 1788. Based on Banfields often-cited A Revision of the Reindeer and Caribou, Genus Rangifer, R. t. caboti, R. t. osborni and R. t. terraenovae were considered invalid and included in R. t. caribou. Some recent authorities have considered them all valid, even suggesting that they are quite distinct and he affirms that true woodland caribou is very rare, in very great difficulties and requires the most urgent of attention

Reindeer
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Reindeer Temporal range: Pleistocene 620,000 BP to present
Reindeer
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Reindeer losing the velvet layer under which a new antler is growing, an annual process
Reindeer
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Swedish reindeer
Reindeer
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The size of the antlers plays a significant role in establishing the hierarchy in the group

29.
Fjord
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Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion. Norways coastline is estimated at 29,000 kilometres with 1,190 fjords, a fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by the rebounding of Earths crust as the ice load, in some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea, Sognefjord, Norway, fjords generally have a sill or shoal at their mouth caused by the previous glaciers reduced erosion rate and terminal moraine. In many cases this causes extreme currents and large saltwater rapids. Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the worlds strongest tidal current and these characteristics distinguish fjords from rias, which are drowned valleys flooded by the rising sea. Drammensfjorden is cut almost in two by the Svelvik ridge, a moraine that during the ice cover was under sea level. During the winter there is usually little inflow of freshwater. Surface water and deeper water are mixed during winter because of the cooling of the surface. In the deep there is still fresh water from the summer with less density than the saltier water along the coast. Offshore wind, common in the areas during winter, sets up a current on the surface from the inner to the outer parts. This current on the surface in turn pulls dense salt water from the coast across the fjord threshold, during the summer season there is usually a large inflow of river water in the inner areas. This freshwater gets mixed with saltwater creating a layer of water with a slightly higher surface than the ocean which in turn sets up a current from the river mouths towards the ocean. This current is more salty towards the coast and right under the surface current there is a reverse current of saltier water from the coast. In the deeper parts of the fjord the cold water remaining from winter is still, fjords with a shallow threshold this deep water is not replaced every year and low oxygen concentration makes the deep water unsuitable for fish and animals. In the most extreme cases there is a constant barrier of freshwater on the surface, gaupnefjorden branch of Sognefjorden is strongly affected by freshwater as glacial river flow in. Velfjorden has little inflow of freshwater, as late as 2000, some coral reefs were discovered along the bottoms of the Norwegian fjords. These reefs were found in fjords from the north of Norway to the south, the marine life on the reefs is believed to be one of the most important reasons why the Norwegian coastline is such a generous fishing ground

30.
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
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They are the most widely used of the country codes published by ISO, and are used most prominently for the Internets country code top-level domains. They were first included as part of the ISO3166 standard in its first edition in 1974, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are used in different environments and are also part of other standards. In some cases they are not perfectly implemented, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are used in the following standards, Starting in 1985, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes have been used in the Domain Name System as country code top-level domains. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority currently assigns the ccTLDs mostly following the alpha-2 codes, but with a few exceptions. For example, the United Kingdom, whose code is GB, uses. uk instead of. gb as its ccTLD. The European Commission generally uses ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes with two exceptions, EL is used to represent Greece, and UK is used to represent the United Kingdom. This notwithstanding, the Official Journal of the European Communities specified that GR and GB be used to represent Greece, for VAT administration purposes, the European Commission uses EL and GB for Greece and the United Kingdom respectively. IETF language tags are also derived from ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes. The full list of ISO 3166-1 codes assigned to countries and territories are usable as region subtags, also, the exceptionally reserved alpha-2 codes defined in ISO 3166-1 are also usable as region subtags for language tags. Some other region grouping subtags are derived from other standards, under the newer stability policies, old assigned codes that have been withdrawn from ISO 3166-1 should no longer be reassigned to another country or territory. The following is a colour-coded decoding table of all ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes, click on the cell to see the definition of each code. The following alpha-2 codes can be user-assigned, AA, QM to QZ, XA to XZ, for example, UN/LOCODE assigns XZ to represent installations in international waters. The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository assigns QO to represent Outlying Oceania, before the adoption of the macroregion code EU by ISO, CLDR also used QU to represent the European Union. The code XK is being used by the European Commission, the IMF, the code XA is being used by Switzerland, as a country code for the Canary Islands, although IC is already reserved for that purpose. The code XN is being used by the World Intellectual Property Organization as an indicator for the Nordic Patent Institute, the codes XE, XS and XW are used by WhatsApp to represent the flags of England, Scotland and Wales as Emoji. Reserved code elements are codes which have become obsolete, or are required in order to enable a user application of the standard. The reserved alpha-2 codes can be divided into the four categories, exceptional reservations, transitional reservations, indeterminate reservations. These codes may be used only during a period of at least five years while new code elements that may have replaced them are taken into use

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
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A map of Europe, with ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes in place of the names of countries and other territories

31.
Hopen, Svalbard
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Hopen is an island in the southeastern part of the Svalbard archipelago. Hopen was discovered in 1613, probably by Thomas Marmaduke of Hull, who named it after his former command, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute operates a manned weather station on the island with a staff of four persons. For the welfare of the crew, there are three available on the island for their use. During World War II, the Luftwaffe placed a team there under cover of Operation Sizilien. The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International and it supports breeding populations of black-legged kittiwakes, thick-billed guillemots and black guillemots. C. Michael Hogan Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus, Globaltwitcher. com, ed. no

Hopen, Svalbard
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Hopen meteorological station, seen from north
Hopen, Svalbard
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Hopen in the southeast.
Hopen, Svalbard
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The southernmost point, Kapp Thor, and the highest point, Iversenfjellet (370 m) seen from south

32.
Austfonna
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Austfonna is an ice cap located on Nordaustlandet in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Covering an area of 8,492 km2 it is the largest ice cap by area and with 1,900 km3 the second largest by volume in Europe, after the Vatnajökull in Iceland, and the seventh largest in the world. Austfonna has a thickness of up to 560 metres, and is 200 km in circumference, the ice dome reaches an elevation of 783 meters above sea level. Vegafonna in the southwest is also connected to Austfonna proper, specifically to, Vegafonna also forms a separate dome. Immediately west of Vegafonna is Glittne ice cap, which is considered part of the former, vestfonna in the northwest of the island is a totally separate ice cap. List of glaciers in Svalbard List of glaciers in Norway Spatial and temporal variability in snow accumulation on Austfonna, http, //www. cig. ensmp. fr/~iahs/sapporo/abs/jsh01/020760-1. html http, //www. cpom. org/research/largeice. htm Map of Nordaustlandet Livescience page

Austfonna
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Austfonna on the island Nordaustlandet. Sørfonna is part of Austfonna, while Vestfonna is a separate glacier.

33.
Quaternary glaciation
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During this period, ice sheets expanded, notably from out of Antarctica and Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets occurred elsewhere. It affected oceans, flooding, and biological communities, the ice sheets themselves, by raising the albedo, affect a major feedback on climate cooling. The Quaternary glaciation was the first ice age to be demonstrated in geology and this was done over the 1700s and 1800s CE. Over the last century, extensive field observations have provided evidence that continental glaciers covered large parts of Europe, North America, even before the theory of worldwide glaciation was generally accepted, many observers recognized that more than a single advance and retreat of the ice had occurred. Since then other, earlier ice ages have been identified, the Quaternary glaciation is the last of five known glaciations during Earths history. The other four are the Huronian glaciation, Cryogenian, Andean-Saharan glaciation, over the past 740,000 years there have been eight glacial cycles. The entire Quaternary Period, starting 2.58 Ma, is referred to as an ice age because at least one permanent large ice sheet—the Antarctic ice sheet—has existed continuously, there is uncertainty over how much of Greenland was covered by ice during the previous and earlier interglacials. During the colder episodes—referred to as glacial ice sheets at least 4 km thick at their maximum also existed in Europe, North America. The shorter and warmer intervals between glacials are referred to as interglacials, currently, Earth is in an interglacial period, which marked the beginning of the Holocene epoch. The current interglacial began between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, which caused the ice sheets from the last glacial period to begin to disappear. Remnants of these last glaciers, now occupying about 10% of the land surface, still exist in Greenland, Antarctica. During the glacial periods, the present hydrologic system was completely interrupted throughout large areas of the world and was modified in others. Due to the volume of ice on land, sea level was approximately 120 meters lower than present, extensive evidence now shows that a number of periods of growth and retreat of continental glaciers occurred during the ice age, called glacials and interglacials. The interglacial periods of climate are represented by buried soil profiles, peat beds. No completely satisfactory theory has been proposed to account for Earths history of glaciation, the cause of glaciation may be related to several simultaneous factors, such as astronomical cycles, atmospheric composition, plate tectonics, and ocean currents. The role of Earths orbital changes in controlling climate was first advanced by James Croll in the late 19th century, later, Milutin Milanković, a Serbian geophysicist, elaborated on the theory and calculated these irregularities in Earths orbit could cause the climatic cycles known as Milankovitch cycles. They are the result of the behavior of several types of cyclical changes in Earths orbital properties. Changes in the eccentricity of Earth occur on a cycle of about 100,000 years

34.
Newtontoppen
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Newtontoppen is the largest and highest mountain in Svalbard, at 1,713 m. Its peak is the highest point on Svalbard and it is located at the north east corner on the island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is made of Silurian granite. The mountain was first ascended by Helge Backlund on 4 August 1900, the mountain was named after Isaac Newton in 1898. The surrounding mountains were named after other famous astronomers and mathematicians the same year, list of European ultra prominent peaks Media related to Newtontoppen at Wikimedia Commons

Newtontoppen
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Southwestern face of Newtontoppen

35.
Van Mijenfjorden
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Van Mijenfjorden is the third-longest fjord in Norways Svalbard archipelago. It lies in the portion of Spitsbergen island, south of Nordenskiöld Land. The fjord is 83 km long, being separated from Bellsund further out by Akseløya, the settlement of Sveagruva lies on the fjords north bank. The fjord is named after the Dutch whaler Willem Cornelisz, Van Muyden, who was involved in the trade in 1612 and 1613. Van Mijenfjorden was originally called Lowe Sound, while the small north of Axel Island was called Van Muydens Haven. This latter name was moved from its location by Giles and Rep. No Man’s Land, A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country, norwegian Polar Institute Place Names of Svalbard Database A detailed map of Svalbard with Van Mijenfjorden clearly labeled Study

Van Mijenfjorden
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Van Mijenfjorden (labelled b) reaches from Bellsund in the west to Sveagruva in Spitsbergen's interior.

36.
Willem Barentsz
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Willem Barentsz was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. He went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage, during his third expedition, the crew was stranded on Novaya Zemlya for almost a year. Barentsz died on the voyage in 1597. In the 19th century, the Barents Sea was named after him, Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands. Barentsz was not his surname but rather his name, short for Barentszoon Barents son. A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to Spain and the Mediterranean to complete an atlas of the Mediterranean region, between 23 and 29 June, Barentsz stayed at Kildin Island. On 9 July, the crew encountered a bear for the first time. After shooting it with a musket when it tried to climb aboard the ship, once leashed and brought aboard the ship however, the bear rampaged and had to be killed. This occurred in Bear Creek, Williams Island, upon discovering the Orange Islands, the crew came across a herd of approximately 200 walruses and tried to kill them with hatchets and pikes. Finding the task more difficult than imagined, they left with only a few ivory tusks. Barentsz reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and followed it northward before being forced to back in the face of large icebergs. Although they did not reach their goal, the trip was considered a success. Setting out on 2 June 1595, the voyage went between the Siberian coast and Vaygach Island, on 30 August, the party came across approximately 20 Samoyed wild men with whom they were able to speak, due to a crewmember speaking their language. 4 September saw a crew sent to States Island to search for a type of crystal that had been noticed earlier. The party was attacked by a bear, and two sailors were killed. Eventually, the turned back upon discovering that unexpected weather had left the Kara Sea frozen. This expedition was considered to be a failure. The Town Council of Amsterdam purchased and outfitted two small ships, captained by Jan Rijp and Jacob van Heemskerk, to search for the channel under the command of Barentsz

37.
Arctic exploration
–
Arctic exploration is the physical exploration of the Arctic region of the Earth. It refers to the period during which mankind has explored the region north of the Arctic Circle. Dangerous oceans and poor weather conditions often fetter explorers attempting to reach polar regions and journeying through these perils by sight, boat, sailing past the Pillars of Hercules, he reached Brittany and even Cornwall, eventually circumnavigating the British Isles. From the local population, he heard news of the land of Thule. After six days of sailing, he reached land at the edge of a sea, and described what is believed to be the aurora. While no one knows exactly how far Pytheas sailed, he may have crossed the Arctic Circle, nevertheless, his tales were regarded as fantasy by later Greek and Roman authorities, such as the geographer Strabo. It was impossible, according to their perception of the world, the first Viking to sight Iceland was Gardar Svavarsson, who went off course due to harsh conditions when sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands. This quickly led to a wave of colonization, not all the settlers were successful however in the attempts to reach the island. In the 10th century, Gunnbjörn Ulfsson got lost in a storm and his report spurred Erik the Red, an outlawed chieftain, to establish a settlement there in 985. While they flourished initially, these settlements eventually foundered due to changing climatic conditions and they are believed to have survived until around 1450. Greenlands early settlers sailed westward, in search of better pasturage, modern scholars debate the precise location of the new lands of Vinland, Markland, and Helluland that they discovered. The Scandinavian peoples also pushed north into their own peninsula by land. As early as 880, the Viking Ohthere of Hålogaland rounded the Scandinavian Peninsula and sailed to the Kola Peninsula and they also explored north by boat, discovering the Northern Sea Route, as well as penetrating to the trans-Ural areas of northern Siberia. They then founded the settlement of Mangazeya east of the Yamal Peninsula in the early 16th century, in 1648 the Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov opened the now famous Bering Strait between America and Asia. Russian settlers and traders on the coasts of the White Sea, by the 17th century they established a continuous sea route from Arkhangelsk as far east as the mouth of Yenisey. This route, known as Mangazeya seaway, after its eastern terminus, Exploration above the Arctic Circle in the Renaissance was driven by the rediscovery of Classical learning and the national quests for commercial expansion. This exploration was hampered by limits in maritime technology of the age, lack of food supplies. A seminal event in Arctic exploration occurred in 1409, when Ptolemys Geographia was translated into Latin, navigators were better able to chart their positions, and the European race to China, sparked by interest in the writings of Marco Polo, commenced

Arctic exploration
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Patent from King Henry VII, authorizing John Cabot and his sons to explore new lands in the west.
Arctic exploration
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A map of the Arctic. The Arctic region is circled by the red line.
Arctic exploration
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Gerard Mercator's map of the North Pole, 1606.
Arctic exploration
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Northwest Passage routes

38.
Terra nullius
–
Sovereignty over territory which is terra nullius may be acquired through occupation, though in some cases doing so would violate an international law or treaty. Indigenous Australians had inhabited Australia for over 50,000 years before European settlement, Indigenous customs, rituals and laws were unwritten. The rationale was that Aboriginal tribal groups already operated under their own legal systems and this position was further reinforced by the decisions of R v Boatman or Jackass and Bulleyes and R v Ballard. The first decision of the New South Wales Supreme Court to make use of the term terra nullius was R v Murrell. Terra nullius was not endorsed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council until the decision of Cooper v Stuart in 1889, the concept of terra nullius was not considered in this case, however. The courts rejected these cases, but the Australian High Court left the open for a reassessment of whether the continent should be considered settled or conquered. Later, on 1 February 2014, the owners of land on Badu Island received freehold title to 10,000 hectare in an act of the Queensland Government. In 1982, Eddie Mabo and four other Torres Strait Islanders from Mer started legal proceedings to establish their traditional land ownership and this led to Mabo v Queensland. The ruling thus had far-reaching significance for the claims of both Torres Strait Islanders and other Indigenous Australians. The controversy over Australian land ownership erupted into the so-called History wars, there is some controversy as to the meaning of the term. For example, it is asserted that, rather than implying mere emptiness, english common law of the 18th century allowed for the legal settlement of uninhabited or barbarous country. Svalbard was considered a terra nullius until the Svalbard Treaty of 9 February 1920 recognised Norwegian sovereignty over the islands, scotland or United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Denmark–Norway all claimed sovereignty over the region in the seventeenth century, but none permanently occupied the islands. Expeditions from each of these polities visited Svalbard principally during the summer for whaling, Norway occupied and claimed parts of Eastern Greenland in the 1920s, claiming that it constituted terra nullius. The matter was decided by the Permanent Court of International Justice against Norway, the Norwegians accepted the ruling and withdrew their claim. Another example of a terra nullius was Antarctica, several countries made claims to parts of the continent in the first half of the 20th century, while other areas remain unclaimed. The Philippines and the Peoples Republic of China both claim the Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal or Huangyan Island, nearest to the island of Luzon, the Philippines claims it under the principles of terra nullius and EEZ. Chinas claim refers to its discovery in the 13th century by Chinese fishermen, the former Nationalist government on the Chinese mainland had also claimed this territory after the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. However, despite Chinas position of non-participation based on the UNCLOS, despite this, China continues to build artificial islands in the South China Sea and Scarborough Shoal is a prime location for another one

39.
Jan Mayen
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Jan Mayen is a Norwegian volcanic island situated in the North Arctic Ocean. It is 55 km long and 373 km2 in area, partly covered by glaciers and it has two parts, larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by a 2.5 km wide isthmus. It lies 600 km northeast of Iceland,500 km east of central Greenland and 1,000 km west of the North Cape, the island is mountainous, the highest summit being the Beerenberg volcano in the north. The isthmus is the location of the two largest lakes of the island, Sørlaguna, and Nordlaguna, a third lake is called Ullerenglaguna. Jan Mayen was formed by the Jan Mayen hotspot, although administered separately, Svalbard and Jan Mayen are collectively assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ. Jan Mayen Island has one exploitable natural resource, gravel, from the site at Trongskaret, other than this, economic activity is limited to providing services for employees of Norways radio communications and meteorological stations located on the island. Jan Mayen has one unpaved airstrip, Jan Mayensfield, which is about 1,585 m long, the 124.1 km coast has no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorages. There are important fishing resources, and the existence of Jan Mayen establishes a large Exclusive Economic Zone around it, a dispute between Norway and Denmark regarding the fishing exclusion zone between Jan Mayen and Greenland was settled in 1988 granting Denmark the greater area of sovereignty. Significant deposits of petroleum and natural gas are suspected by geologists to lie below Jan Mayens surrounding seafloors, Jan Mayen Island is an integral part of the Kingdom of Norway. Since 1995, Jan Mayen has been administered by the County Governor of the northern Norwegian county of Nordland to which it is closest. However, some authority over Jan Mayen has been assigned to the commander of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation. The only inhabitants on the island are personnel working for the Norwegian Armed Forces, eighteen people spend the winter on the island, but the population may double during the summer, when heavy maintenance is performed. Personnel serve either six months or one year, and are exchanged twice a year in April, the main purpose of the military personnel is to operate a Loran-C base. The support crew, including mechanics, cooks, and a nurse, are among the military personnel, both the LORAN transmitter and the meteorological station are located a few kilometres away from the settlement Olonkinbyen, where all personnel live. Transport to the island is provided by C-130 Hercules military transport planes operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force that land at Jan Mayensfields gravel runway, the planes fly in from Bodø Main Air Station eight times a year. Since the airport does not have any instrument landing capabilities, good visibility is required, for heavy goods, freight ships visit during the summer, but since there are no harbours, the ships must anchor. The island has no population, but is assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ. It uses the Internet country code top-level domain. no and data code JN, Jan Mayen has telephone and internet connection over satellite, using Norwegian telephone numbers

40.
Norsemen
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Norsemen are the group of people who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language between the 8th and 11th centuries. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages, Norseman means man from the North and applied primarily to Old Norse-speaking tribes living in southern and central Scandinavia. In history, Norse or Norseman could be any person from Scandinavia, even though Norway, Denmark, in some other historical references, the term may also refer to the East Norse, meaning mainly Danes and Swedes, for instance, Cnuts Empire and Swedes adventures East. In the early Medieval period, as today, Vikings was a term for attacking Norsemen, especially in connection with raids and monastic plundering by Norsemen in the British Isles. The Norse were also known as Ascomanni, ashmen, by the Germans, Lochlanach by the Gaels, the Gaelic terms Finn-Gall, Dubh-Gall and Gall Goidel were used for the people of Norse descent in Ireland and Scotland, who assimilated into the Gaelic culture. Dubliners called them Ostmen, or East-people, and the name Oxmanstown comes from one of their settlements, they were known as Lochlannaigh. However, British conceptions of the Vikings origins were not quite correct and those who plundered Britain lived in what is today Denmark, Scania, the western coast of Sweden and Norway and along the Swedish Baltic coast up to around the 60th latitude and Lake Mälaren. They also settled on the island of Gotland, the border between the Norsemen and more southerly Germanic tribes, the Danevirke, today is located about 50 kilometres south of the Danish-German border. The southernmost living Vikings lived no further north than Newcastle upon Tyne, archaeologists and historians of today believe that these Scandinavian settlements in the Slavic lands formed the names of the countries of Russia and Belarus. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. In the Old Norse language, the term norrœnir menn, was used correspondingly to the modern English name Norsemen, referring to Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Faroe Islanders, Icelanders, etc. The modern people of Norway, Sweden and Denmark never identify themselves as skandinaver, as they are Norwegians, Swedes, the Vikings were simply people partaking in the raid. On occasions Finland is also mentioned as a Scandinavian country, Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands are also geographically separate from the Scandinavian peninsula. The term Nordic countries is used to encompass the Scandinavian countries, Iceland, Greenland

41.
Greenland
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Greenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Danish Realm between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for more than a millennium. The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors began migrating from the Canadian mainland in the 13th century, Greenland is the worlds largest island. Three-quarters of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480, it is the least densely populated country in the world, the Arctic Umiaq Line ferry acts as a lifeline for western Greenland, connecting the various cities and settlements. Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from what is now Canada, Norsemen settled the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century, and Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century, soon after their demise, beginning in 1499, the Portuguese briefly explored and claimed the island, naming it Terra do Lavrador. In the early 18th century, Scandinavian explorers reached Greenland again, to strengthen trading and power, Denmark-Norway affirmed sovereignty over the island. Greenland was settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, Vikings set sail from Greenland and Iceland, discovering North America nearly 500 years before Columbus reached Caribbean islands. Though under continuous influence of Norway and Norwegians, Greenland was not formally under the Norwegian crown until 1262, the Kingdom of Norway was extensive and a military power until the mid-14th century. Thus, the two kingdoms resources were directed at creating Copenhagen, Norway became the weaker part and lost sovereignty over Greenland in 1814 when the union was dissolved. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814, and was made a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark, in 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC which was effected in 1985, Greenland contains the worlds largest and most northernly national park, Northeast Greenland National Park. Greenland is divided into four municipalities - Sermersooq, Kujalleq, Qaasuitsup and it also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK3.4 billion, which is planned to diminish gradually over time. Greenland expects to grow its economy based on increased income from the extraction of natural resources, the capital, Nuuk, held the 2016 Arctic Winter Games. At 70%, Greenland has one of the highest shares of renewable energy in the world, the early Viking settlers named the island as Greenland. In the Icelandic sagas, the Norwegian-born Icelander Erik the Red was said to be exiled from Iceland for manslaughter, along with his extended family and his thralls, he set out in ships to explore an icy land known to lie to the northwest. After finding an area and settling there, he named it Grœnland

42.
Walrus
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The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the living species in the family Odobenidae. Adult walruses are easily recognized by their prominent tusks, whiskers, adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kg and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to be a species in the Arctic marine regions. The walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures of many indigenous Arctic peoples, who have hunted the walrus for its meat, fat, skin, tusks, and bone. During the 19th century and the early 20th century, walruses were widely hunted and killed for their blubber, walrus ivory, the population of walruses dropped rapidly all around the Arctic region. Their population has rebounded somewhat since then, though the populations of Atlantic and Laptev walruses remain fragmented, the origin of the word walrus is thought by J. R. R. Tolkien to derive from a Germanic language, and it has been attributed largely to either the Dutch language or Old Norse and its first part is thought to derive from a word such as Dutch walvis whale. Its second part has also hypothesized to come from the Old Norse word for horse. For example, the Old Norse word hrossvalr means horse-whale and is thought to have passed in an inverted form to both Dutch and the dialects of northern Germany as walros and Walross. An alternate theory is that is comes from the Dutch words wal shore, the species name rosmarus is Scandinavian. The Norwegian manuscript Konungsskuggsja, thought to date from around AD1240, refers to the walrus as rosmhvalr in Iceland and rostungr in Greenland. Several place names in Iceland, Greenland and Norway may originate from sites, Hvalfjord, Hvallatrar and Hvalsnes to name some. The archaic English word for walrus—morse—is widely thought to have come from the Slavic languages, compare морж in Russian, mursu in Finnish, morša in Northern Saami, and morse in French. The coincidental similarity between morse and the Latin word morsus supposedly contributed to the reputation as a terrible monster. The compound Odobenus comes from odous and baino, based on observations of walruses using their tusks to pull out of the water. The term divergens in Latin means turning apart, referring to their tusks, the walrus is a mammal in the order Carnivora

43.
Bowhead whale
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The bowhead whale is a species of the family Balaenidae, in suborder Mysticeti, and genus Balaena, once thought to include the right whale. A stocky dark-colored whale without a fin, it can grow 14 to 18 m in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh from 75 to 100 tonnes and they live entirely in fertile Arctic and sub-Arctic waters, unlike other whales that migrate to low latitude waters to feed or reproduce. The bowhead was also known as the Greenland right whale or Arctic whale, American whalemen called them the steeple-top, polar whale, or Russia or Russian whale. The bowhead has the largest mouth of any animal, the bowhead was an early whaling target. The population was reduced before a 1966 moratorium was passed to protect the species. Through conservation efforts, the population has since recovered and is now rated Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Carl Linnaeus first described this whale in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, today, the bowhead whale occupies a monotypic genus, separate from the right whales, as was proposed by the work of John Edward Gray in 1821. For the next 180 years, the family Balaenidae was the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a genus or in two separate genera. Eventually, it was recognized that bowheads and right whales were in fact different, the right whales were thus confirmed to be in a separate genus, Eubalaena. The relationship is shown in the cladogram below, Balaena prisca, one of the five Balaena fossils from the late Miocene to early Pleistocene, the earlier fossil record shows no related cetacean after Morenocetus, found in a South American deposit dating back 23 million years. However based on later DNA analysis those fossil bones claimed to be from Swedenborg whales were confirmed to be from bowhead whales, the bowhead whale has a large, robust, dark-colored body and a white chin/lower jaw. The whale has a triangular skull, which the whale uses to break through the Arctic ice to breathe. Inuit hunters have reported bowheads surfacing through 60 cm of ice, the bowhead also has a strongly bowed lower jaw and a narrow upper jaw. Its baleen is the longest of that of any whale, at 3 m, the bowhead whale has paired blowholes, at the highest point of the head, which can spout a blow 6.1 m high. The whales blubber is the thickest of that of any animal, unlike most cetaceans, the bowhead does not have a dorsal fin. Bowhead whales are comparable in size to the three species of right whales and he also spoke of one, caught near Spitsbergen around 1800, that was allegedly nearly 21.3 m long

44.
Adventfjorden
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Adventfjorden is a 7 km long and 4 km wide bay on the southern side of Isfjorden, on the west coast of Spitsbergen. The name is a corruption of Adventure Bay, which was named after the Hull whaleship Adventure. The fjord was known as Klass Billen Bay. At the head of Adventfjorden is Adventdalen, the former mining camp of Longyearbyen lies on the fjords southwestern shore, while another former mining camp, Hiorthhamn, is located on its northeastern shore. No Man’s Land, A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country, Norwegian Polar Institute, Place names in Norwegian polar areas

Adventfjorden
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Adventfjorden lies on the southern side of Isfjorden on Spitsbergen's west coast.

45.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany

46.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states

47.
Umberto Nobile
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Umberto Nobile was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships during the period between the two World Wars, Nobile also designed and flew the Italia, a second polar airship, this second expedition ended in a deadly crash and provoked an international rescue effort. Born in Lauro, in the southern Italian province of Avellino, in 1906 he began working for the Italian state railways, where he worked on electrification of the rail system. In 1911 his interests turned to the field of aeronautical engineering, Nobile had always been fascinated by the work of airship pioneers such as Ferdinand von Zeppelin. When Italy entered World War I in 1915, the then 29-year-old attempted three times to enlist, but was rejected as unfit for service. Commissioned in the Italian air force, Nobile spent the war overseeing airship construction, the Italian military had already used airships as early as 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War, for bombing and reconnaissance. Italy built about 20 M-class semi-rigid airships with a load of 1000 kg which it used for bombing and anti-shipping missions. The Italians also used other, smaller airships, some of them British-built, none of Nobiles designs flew until after the war. In July 1918, Nobile formed a partnership with the engineers Giuseppe Valle, Benedetto Croce and Celestino Usuelli, during this period he also lectured at the University of Naples, obtained his test pilots license and wrote the textbook Elementi di Aerodinamica. He became convinced that medium-sized, semi-rigid airships were superior to non-rigid and rigid designs, the companys first project was the Airship T-34, which was designed for a trans-Atlantic crossing. When the British R34 crossed the Atlantic in 1919, Nobile, later the U. S. Army acquired the ship, and commissioned it as the Roma. The Roma ultimately crashed in Norfolk, Virginia in 1922 after hitting high tension power lines, killing 34. That same year, in the face of political instability and threats to nationalize his company, Nobile traveled to the U. S. to work as a consultant for Goodyear in Akron and he returned to Italy in 1923 and began construction of a new airship, the N-1. According to his biography and numerous articles, he was caught up in a web of political and professional intrigue with competitors and detractors. In autumn 1925 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen sought out Nobile to collaborate on a flight to the North Pole – still at that time a goal for aviators – using an airship. The Italian State Airship Factory, which had built Nobiles N-1, Amundsen insisted in the contract that Nobile should be the pilot and that five of the crew should be Italian, Amundsen named the airship Norge. On 14 April the airship left Italy for Leningrad in Russia with stops at Pulham, on its way towards its Arctic jumping-off point, Ny-Ålesund at Vestspitsbergen, Svalbard it also made a stop at the airship mast at Vadsø. On 29 April Amundsen was dismayed at the arrival of Richard E. Byrds American expedition which also aimed to reach the Pole

48.
Aerial tramway
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An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion rope, as such, careful phrasing is necessary to prevent confusion. It is also called a ropeway or even incorrectly referred to as a gondola lift. A gondola lift has cabins suspended from a continuously circulating cable whereas aerial trams simply shuttle back, in Japan, the two are considered as the same category of vehicle and called ropeway, while the term cable car means Cable car and funicular. An aerial railway where the vehicles are suspended from a track is known as a suspension railway. An aerial tramway consists of one or two fixed cables, one loop of cable, and a number of passenger cabins, the fixed cables provide support for the cabins while the haulage rope, by means of a grip, is solidly connected to the truck. An electric motor drives the haulage rope which provides propulsion, Aerial tramways differ from gondola lifts in that gondola lifts are considered continuous systems. A similar system of cables is used in a funicular railway, the two passenger cabins, which carry from 4 to over 150 people, are situated at opposite ends of the loops of cable. Thus, while one is coming up, the other is going down the mountain, some aerial trams have only one cabin, which lends itself better for systems with small elevation changes along the cable run. The first operational aerial tram was built in 1644 by Adam Wiebe in Gdańsk and it was moved by horses and used to move soil over the river to build defences. It is called the first known cable lift in European history and it is not known how long this lift was used. In any case, it would be another 230 years before Germany would get the cable lift. Other mining systems were developed in the 1860s by Hodgson, Hallidie went on to perfect a line of mining and people tramways after 1867 in California and Nevada. Tramways are sometimes used in regions to carry ore from a mine located high on the mountain to an ore mill located at a lower elevation. Ore tramways were common in the early 20th century at the mines in North and South America, one can still be seen in the San Juan Mountains of the US state of Colorado. Over one thousand mining tramways were built around the world—Spitsbergen, Russia, Alaska, Argentina, New Zealand and this experience was replicated with the use of tramways in the First World War particularly on the Isonzo Front in Italy. The German firm of Bleichert built hundreds of freight and military tramways, strangely, Bleichert even built the first tourist tramway at Bolzano/Bozen, in then Tyrolian Austria in 1913. Other firms entered the mining tramway business- Otto, Leschen, Breco Ropeways Ltd, ceretti and Tanfani, and Riblet for instance

49.
Operation Gauntlet
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The objective was to destroy the rich coal mines there together with associated equipment and stores, which it was correctly assumed the Germans intended to make use of. These mines on Norwegian territory were owned and operated by Norway and by the Soviet Union, German forces had completed their occupation of Norway in June 1940 and in June 1941, the Soviet Union had been invaded in Operation Barbarossa. The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill immediately declared common cause with the USSR, the Soviets requested a British naval presence off northern Russia and Rear Admiral Philip Vian visited Murmansk to assess the local situation. Due to logistical and other circumstances the British presence was limited to submarines, political pressure continued for an active British presence and Force K was formed at Scapa Flow to operate in the Arctic under the command of Philip Vian. At the end of July 1941, Vians Force visited Spitsbergen to ascertain the situation not knowing whether or not a German military presence was on the islands, there was not, and both the Norwegian and Soviet settlers were cooperative. All this had been done without alerting the Germans, who remained in ignorance of Allied activity. Lt. Tamber maintained normal radio contacts with the mainland and encouraged the despatch of colliers to collect coal, eventually three ships were held at Longyearbyen. En route to Britain, the Force visited Bear Island, destroyed the station there. This action finally alerted the Germans to Allied activity and, thereafter, Vian returned to London to discuss the possibilities with the Chiefs of Staff. His advice was that a military occupation would be possible but the location was unsuitable as a naval base, Winston Churchill applied pressure for a plan to be devised quickly. Originally a ground force of two battalions had been allocated to the landings, but this was reduced to one on confirmation that there were no Germans in the area. The troops mainly comprised elements of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier A. E. Potts, with 3 Field Company, RCE attached, a party of Norwegian servicemen based in the United Kingdom. There was demolition and logistic support from British Army units including a detachment from the Kent Fortress Royal Engineers and this was a total force of 645 All Ranks, including 527 Canadians. The force sailed on August 19, the troops landed on the 25 August and, as hoped, met no opposition throughout and were enthusiastically greeted by the islanders. These French had escaped from German prison camps and were taken on board for passage to the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the rest of Force K and the parties had moved on to Longyearbyen. On 3 September the ships returned from Arkhangelsk and all forces ashore embarked together with some 800 locals and 15 sled dogs, two radio stations were destroyed which, up to this point, had continued to broadcast normally and even falsely reported fog to deter any German observation planes. The demolition teams completed all their tasks destroying the mines, equipment not taken away,1,000 tons of steam coal was left in case needed by Allied ships who might stop there in the future

Operation Gauntlet
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Location map of Spitsbergen and Bear Island

50.
Operation Zitronella
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Operation Zitronella, also known as Operation Sizilien, was an eight-hour German raid on Spitzbergen on 8 September 1943. During the Second World War, the Svalbard archipelago was the scene of a number of military operations, in August 1941, British, Canadian, and Free Norwegian Forces landed on Spitzbergen during Operation Gauntlet. This was aimed to destroy the rich coal mines together with associated equipment and stores. No attempt was made to establish a garrison, and the population was evacuated. In April 1942, a Norwegian force landed at Barentsburg in Operation Fritham, the operation met considerable difficulties, but by the summer of 1943, the Norwegians were well established. Meanwhile, Nazi Germany had set up a number of manned meteorological stations in the Arctic to improve weather forecasts vital for the warfare against Allied convoys from the UK to the USSR. The Kriegsmarine decided to evacuate the Knospe weather station during the summer of 1942, the submarine U-435, under Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow, was ordered to recover the six-man detachment, which it did on 23 August 1942 without Allied interference. In September 1943, the German Naval Command decided to destroy the Allied weather facilities in the islands, the assigned task force included the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, plus nine destroyers. On 8 September, the ships landed a battalion of German troops, supported by naval gunfire, the rest of the Norwegians fled into the hinterland. After destroying the coal depots and other facilities, the German forces withdrew, Norwegian Captain Morten Bredsdorff and 30 others were sent to Oflag XXI-C in Schildberg in the German-annexed Reichsgau Wartheland, joining 1,089 Norwegian officers already interned there. Under cover of the attack, the Luftwaffe installed a weather station on Hope Island, isolated for months by Nazi Germanys surrender in May 1945, the airmen on Hope Island gave themselves up in September 1945 to the captain of a Norwegian fishing boat. Despite its success, Operation Zitronella/Sizilien was only a qualified success and it brought no lasting benefit, since the Allies quickly returned to Spitzbergen and re-established the weather station. On 19 October, the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa arrived at Barentsburg with relief, samuel Eliot Morison dismisses Operation Zitronella as a political move on the part of the Kriegsmarine, aimed at showing Hitler that the German surface fleet had some value. Morison evaluates the effort as disproportionate to the results, suggesting that the ends could have been achieved more simply. Arctic Ocean operations of World War II Operation Zitronella Operation Silizien

Operation Zitronella
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Map of Svalbard with Spitsbergen in the west emphasised

51.
Second World War
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan

52.
Grumant
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Grumant was a Soviet settlement in Svalbard, Norway, established in 1912 and abandoned in 1965. The population peaked at 1,106 in 1951/52, the name ‘Grumant’ is Pomor in origin, and is also used to refer to the whole of the Svalbard archipelago. It may be a corruption of ‘Greenland, ’ with which this land was confused, grumant is located on Spitsbergen, the largest of the Svalbard archipelagos islands, about 10 kilometres West-southwest from Longyearbyen, the administrative centre

Grumant
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Two of the houses remaining in Grumant

53.
Forlandet National Park
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Forlandet National Park lies on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The park was created by a resolution on June 1,1973 and covers the entire island of Prins Karls Forland. The Norwegian national park has an area of 616 km2 and a area of 4031 km2. This area is recognized for the worlds most northerly range of stone seals, in the region there are numerous archeological remains from Norwegian and Russian hunters and whalers. The park has been recognised as a wetland of importance by designation under the Ramsar Convention. It has also identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding populations of barnacle geese, common eiders. Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management on Forlandet National Park

54.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

Sweden
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A Vendel-era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden
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Flag
Sweden
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A romantic nationalist interpretation of Valdemar IV taking control over Gotland. The final battle outside the walls of Visby in 1361 ended with a massacre of 1,800 defenders of the city.
Sweden
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Stockholm in mid-17th century

55.
Denmark
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Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Scandinavian country in Europe and a sovereign state. The southernmost and smallest of the Nordic countries, it is south-west of Sweden and south of Norway, Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark has an area of 42,924 square kilometres. The country consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, the islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. The unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 10th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Sweden and Norway were ruled together under the Kalmar Union, established in 1397 and ending with Swedish secession in 1523. Denmark and Norway remained under the monarch until outside forces dissolved the union in 1814. The union with Norway made it possible for Denmark to inherit the Faroe Islands, Iceland, beginning in the 17th century, there were several cessions of territory to Sweden. In the 19th century there was a surge of nationalist movements, Denmark remained neutral during World War I. In April 1940, a German invasion saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, ending the absolute monarchy which had begun in 1660. It establishes a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, the government and national parliament are seated in Copenhagen, the nations capital, largest city and main commercial centre. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving powers to handle internal affairs, Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948, in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009. Denmark became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, maintaining certain opt-outs, it retains its own currency, the krone. It is among the members of NATO, the Nordic Council, the OECD, OSCE. The etymology of the word Denmark, and especially the relationship between Danes and Denmark and the unifying of Denmark as a kingdom, is a subject which attracts debate. This is centred primarily on the prefix Dan and whether it refers to the Dani or a historical person Dan and the exact meaning of the -mark ending. Most handbooks derive the first part of the word, and the name of the people, from a word meaning land, related to German Tenne threshing floor. The -mark is believed to mean woodland or borderland, with references to the border forests in south Schleswig. The first recorded use of the word Danmark within Denmark itself is found on the two Jelling stones, which are believed to have been erected by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth

56.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

57.
Company town
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A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, churches, schools, markets, the best examples of company towns have had high ideals, but many have been regarded as paternalistic or exploitative. Others developed more or less in unplanned fashion, such as Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, one of the oldest, traditional settings for company towns were where extractive industries — coal, metal mines, lumber — had established a monopoly franchise. Dam sites and war-industry camps founded other company towns, since company stores often had a monopoly in company towns, it was possible to pay in scrip through a truck system. In the Soviet Union there were cities of nuclear scientists known as atomgrad, particularly in Ukraine those were Pripyat, Varash. The company may also donate a building to a local congregation, operate parks, host cultural events such as concerts. If the owning company cuts back or goes out of business, Company towns often become regular public cities and towns as they grow and attract other settlement, business enterprises, and pool transportation and services infrastructure. Other times, a town may not officially be a company town, further, such dependencies extend to neighborhoods and regions of larger cities. Paternalism, a form of social engineering, refers to the control of workers by their employers who sought to force middle-class ideals upon their working-class employees. Accordingly, the town offered a unique opportunity to achieve such ends. Additionally, for-profit shops within company towns were owned by the company. Although economically successful, company towns sometimes failed politically due to a lack of elected officials, accordingly, workers often had no say in local affairs and therefore, felt dictated. Ultimately, this political climate caused resentment amongst workers and resulted in many residents eventually losing long-term affection for their towns, such was the case at Pullman. The town, entirely company-owned, provided housing, markets, a library, churches and entertainment for the 6,000 company employees, employees were required to live in Pullman, although cheaper rentals could be found in nearby communities. The town operated successfully until the panic of 1893, when demands for the companys products declined. Despite this, the company refused to lower rents in the town or the price of goods at its shops, a national commission formed to investigate the causes of the strikes found that Pullmans paternalism was partly to blame and labelled it un-American. In 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court required Pullman to dissolve their ownership of the town, historian Linda Carlson argues that the managers of corporate towns in the early 20th century believed they could avoid the mistakes made by George Pullman in the 1880s. She says they, wanted to create a life for their employees, decent housing, good schools

Company town
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The town of Siedlung Eisenheim in Germany.
Company town
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Company town Burg in Bayreuth, Germany
Company town
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An example of houses at Port Sunlight.
Company town
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Svit in Slovakia

58.
Kings Bay (company)
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Kings Bay AS is a government enterprise owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry that operates the entire settlement of Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard. The settlement, the most northerly civilian in the world serves research staff, the company provides the necessary infrastructure, such as transport, real estate, power and water supply, catering and other facilities. The company is responsible for administering Bjørnøen AS, a government enterprise that owns the entire island of Bjørnøya. In the summer the company also handles cruise ships arrive at Ny-Ålesund. The company was founded in 1916 as Kings Bay Kull Company with the intention of operating a coal mine and it was later nationalized, and in 1962 the mine closed in the context of a political crisis in Norway known as the Kings Bay Affair. A research facility was set up in at Ny-Ålesund, to be run by the company

Kings Bay (company)
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In the mine Agnes Credit: Sigvald Moa

59.
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
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The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, also known as MET Norway, is Norways national institute which provides weather forecasts. Its three main offices are located in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø, MET Norway has around 500 employees and some 650 part-time observers around the country. The institute was founded in 1866 with the help of Norwegian astronomer and he is credited with founding meteorological research in Norway. The institute represents Norway in international organizations like the World Meteorological Organization, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the Institute is also partner to a number of international research and monitoring projects including EMEP, MyOcean, MyWave and the North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System. Marine forecasts of sea state parameters are issued both commercially to oil companies and more generally for the public, the institute also provides data for the free online service yr. no, launched in 2007, which provides weather forecasts for some 7 million places in the world. The institute is responsible for maintaining, quality checking, archiving and updating the network consisting of automated weather stations, radiosondes. The marine observations of wave height and other oceanographic parameters gathered by petroleum platforms in Norwegian waters are also archived by the institute, the institute produces operational weather forecasts using different numerical weather prediction models including the Unified Model and HIRLAM. The forecasts are subject to modifications introduced by human forecasters before being issued, the institute also runs a suite of operational ocean models ranging in resolution from 20 km to less than 1 km. The model suite currently comprises both the Princeton Ocean Model as well as the more recent Regional Ocean Modeling System, Henrik Mohn Aksel Steen Hans Theodor Hesselberg Ragnar Fjørtoft Kaare Langlo Arne Grammeltvedt Anton Eliassen yr. no Official website Information about yr. no

60.
List of statues of Lenin
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This article is a list of known monuments dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. Important regions and capital cities of countries are highlighted in bold, the first Lenin statue in Africa, this monument was constructed in October 1983. The statue was toppled with the fall of the Derg government in 1991 and it was unveiled by then Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov, Indian Prime-minister Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi. Every year on 22 April members of the Communist Party of India, AKG Bhawan - A large bust of Lenin is located in the headquarters of the Communist Party of India in New Delhi. The white bust is installed right in front of the bust of A. K. Gopalan, the bust was a gift from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Before its final installation in the year 2010 it remained isolated in the Headquarters backyard for several years, baikonur - located in the central square of the city Nearly every city and village in the country has a Lenin statue, usually located in the central square. The one in Bishkek was removed from the square and is now located behind the national museum. Ulaanbaatar - in front of Ulaanbaatar Hotel and in proximity to the Mongolian Peoples Party headquarters. In a speech during the ceremony, Mayor Erdeniin Bat-Üül denounced Lenin and his fellow communists as murderers.5 m. There is a glass window of Lenin in the Old Library on Bebelplatz. One statue of Lenin is still standing in Nobelstraße 66 in the yard of a removal company, potsdam - Bust of Lenin placed in the Volkspark Schwerin - Statue of Lenin, made by the Estonian sculptor Jaak Soans and inaugurated on 22 June 1985. Even nowadays this monument is still causing heated debates among politicians, citizen and historians, athens - front of the Headquarters building of the Communist Party of Greece Budapest - created in 1965 by Patzáy Pál, in City Park. In 1991 it was moved to Memento Park, Budapest, the Timewheel now stands on the former site. All statues were taken down in 1991 or soon after, most eventually winding up in Grutas Park and they were erected during the Soviet period and stood, among other places, in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Jonava, Druskininkai, and Jurbarkas. It was placed in the context of an exhibition about the GDR,1992 Brzeg - ex school in military unit of the Soviet Army, removed ca.1992 Stargard - in Kluczewo district, ex military unit of the Soviet Army, removed ca. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of them were destroyed without the consent of their creators and this happened even earlier in the European post-Communist states and in the Baltic states. However, in many of the former Soviet Republics many remain, the monument in the square is the last major Lenin monument to be established in the Soviet Union, in 1988. Others stand in Solombala on the Square, Terekhina on the street, astrakhan - monument installed in the square, VI Lenin Bakhchysarai Balakovo - Saratov region, two monuments Barnaul - three on the main avenue, and one in Upland Park

List of statues of Lenin
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Leninplatz, East Berlin, Germany (removed in 1992)
List of statues of Lenin
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Kolkata, India
List of statues of Lenin
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Vijayawada, India
List of statues of Lenin
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Lenin on top of building, East Village, New York City

61.
Socialist realism
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Socialist realism is a style of realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in that country as well as in other socialist countries. Socialist realism is characterized by the depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat. Although related, it should not be confused with social realism, Socialist realism was the predominant form of approved art in the Soviet Union from its development in the early 1920s to its eventual fall from popularity in the late 1960s. While other countries have employed a prescribed canon of art, socialist realism in Soviet Union persisted longer and was more restricted than elsewhere in Europe, Socialist realism was developed by many thousands of artists, across a diverse society, over several decades. Early examples of realism in Russian art include the work of the Peredvizhnikis, while these works do not have the same political connotation, they exhibit the techniques exercised by their successors. After the Bolsheviks took control of Russia on October 25,1917, there had been a short period of artistic exploration in the time between the fall of the Tsar and the rise of the Bolsheviks. In 1917, Russian artists began to return to traditional forms of art. Shortly after the Bolsheviks took control, Anatoly Lunacharsky was appointed as head of Narkompros and this put Lunacharsky in the position of deciding the direction of art in the newly created Soviet state. Lunacharsky created a system of aesthetics based on the body that would become the main component of socialist realism for decades to come. He believed that the sight of a body, intelligent face or friendly smile was essentially life-enhancing. He concluded that art had an effect on the human organism. By depicting the perfect person, Lunacharsky believed art could educate citizens on how to be the perfect Soviets, there were two main groups debating the fate of Soviet art, futurists and traditionalists. Russian Futurists, many of whom had been creating abstract or leftist art before the Bolsheviks, believed communism required a complete rupture from the past and, therefore, traditionalists believed in the importance of realistic representations of everyday life. By 1928, the Soviet government had enough strength and authority to end private enterprises, at this point, although the term socialist realism was not being used, its defining characteristics became the norm. The first time the term socialist realism was officially used was in 1932, the term was settled upon in meetings that included politicians of the highest level, including Stalin himself. Maxim Gorky, a proponent of literary socialist realism, published an article titled Socialist Realism in 1933. During the Congress of 1934 four guidelines were laid out for socialist realism, the work must be, Proletarian, art relevant to the workers and understandable to them. Typical, scenes of life of the people

62.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo is an exempt diocese located in the city of Oslo in Norway. The see was established as the Diocese of Oslo, and the bishop was seated at St. Hallvards Cathedral, in 1537 - in the course of the Lutheran Reformation in Denmark-Norway and Holstein - Christian III of Denmark suppressed the Catholic episcopates at the Norwegian sees. In 1582 the stray Catholics in Norway and elsewhere in Northern Europe were placed under the jurisdiction of a nuncio in Cologne. In 1688 Norway became part of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Nordic Missions, the Paderborn bishops functioned as administrators of the apostolic vicariate. In 1834 the Catholic missions in Norway became part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden, whereas Norway north of the polar circle became the Apostolic Prefecture of the North Pole in 1855, the rest of Norway stayed with the Swedish vicariate. On 17 August 1869 the mission became the prefecture of Norway. On 10 April 1931 the apostolic vicariate was divided into the Apostolic Vicariate of Oslo, a Catholic jurisdiction for central Norway, and a jurisdiction for Norway north of the polar circle. On 29 June 1953 the Apostolic Vicariate of Oslo became a separate Roman Catholic diocese, on 26 February 2015, Norwegian authorities levelled charges of fraud against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo and Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig. In connection with the case, Norwegian police raided the offices of the diocese, unusually for a Scandinavian diocese, a majority of Oslos bishops have actually been of the local ethnicity. Bishops of Oslo Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, C. R. S. A, vicars Apostolic of Oslo Bishop Jacques Mangers, S. M. Vicars Apostolic of Norway Bishop Olaf Offerdahl Fr

63.
Politics of Svalbard
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Svalbard lies under the sovereignty of Norway, but the Svalbard Treaty places several restrictions. Norway cannot use the archipelago for warlike purposes, cannot discriminate economic activity based on nationality and is required to conserve the natural environment, uniquely, Svalbard is entirely visa-free zone. Everybody may live and work in Svalbard indefinitely regardless country of citizenship, Svalbard Treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as Norwegian nationals. Non-treaty nationals may live and work indefinitely visa-free as well, regulations concerning rejection and expulsion from Svalbard is in force on non-discriminatory basis. Public administration of the archipelago is the responsibility of the Governor of Svalbard, the institution was established by and is regulated by the Svalbard Act, which also limits which Norwegian laws apply to the islands. Longyearbyen Community Council is the elected local government and is organized similar to a mainland municipality. Other Norwegian government agencies with a presence are the Directorate of Mining, the only diplomatic mission is the Consulate of Russia in Barentsburg. The archipelago was spotted in 1596, and soon companies from England, both England and Denmark–Norway claimed the land, while the Dutch and France claimed the mare liberum principle, resulting in Svalbard becoming terra nullius—land without sovereignty. Work on establishing a public administration started in the 1870s, but did not progress until the 1900s, the Svalbard Treaty was signed following the Paris Peace Conference in 1920, and the governor and act came into effect in 1925. By then only Norwegian and Russian communities remained, after the Second World War and the outbreak of the Cold War, Svalbard became polarized with Norwegian and Soviet communities isolated from each other. Norway carried out a more defensive foreign policy on Svalbard compared to on the mainland, the Soviet Union issued protests against virtually all new Norwegian activity. At the time there were twice as many Soviet citizens as Norwegians on the islands, more than half the archipelago was conserved in 1973. Since the 1990s Longyearbyen has become normalized, abandoned the town structure. On the other hand, the Soviet communities have dwindled, with only a few hundred remaining in Barentsburg. Svalbard was undoubtedly spotted by Willem Barentsz of the Netherlands in 1596, the Muscovy Company of England started walrus hunting on Bjørnøya in 1604, and from 1611 the companys Jonas Poole started whaling around Spitsbergen. The following year the Muscovy Company sent a new expedition, but was met by both Dutch and Spanish whalers, the company claimed exclusive rights to the area and sent away the contenders. In 1613, seven armed English ships were sent on an expedition that expelled a few dozen Dutch, Spanish and this led to an international political conflict. The Dutch rejected exclusive rights for the English, claiming the mare liberum principle, England offered to purchase the rights from Denmark–Norway in 1614, but the offer was rejected, after which the English reverted to their exclusive rights claim

64.
Income tax
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An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities that varies with the income or profits of the taxpayer. Many jurisdictions refer to income tax on business entities as companies tax or corporate tax, partnerships generally are not taxed, rather, the partners are taxed on their share of partnership items. Tax may be imposed by both a country and subdivisions, most jurisdictions exempt locally organized charitable organizations from tax. Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times taxable income, the tax rate may increase as taxable income increases. Taxation rates may vary by type or characteristics of the taxpayer, capital gains may be taxed at different rates than other income. Credits of various sorts may be allowed that reduce tax, some jurisdictions impose the higher of an income tax or a tax on an alternative base or measure of income. Taxable income of resident in the jurisdiction is generally total income less income producing expenses. Generally, only net gain from sale of property, including goods held for sale, is included in income, Income of a corporations shareholders usually includes distributions of profits from the corporation. Deductions typically include all income producing or business expenses including an allowance for recovery of costs of business assets, many jurisdictions allow notional deductions for individuals, and may allow deduction of some personal expenses. Most jurisdictions either do not tax income earned outside the jurisdiction or allow a credit for taxes paid to other jurisdictions on such income, nonresidents are taxed only on certain types of income from sources within the jurisdictions, with few exceptions. Most jurisdictions require self-assessment of the tax and require payers of some types of income to withhold tax from those payments, advance payments of tax by taxpayers may be required. Taxpayers not timely paying tax owed are generally subject to significant penalties, for most of the history of civilization, these preconditions did not exist, and taxes were based on other factors. Taxes on wealth, social position, and ownership of the means of production were all common, the first income tax is generally attributed to Egypt. In the early days of the Roman Republic, public taxes consisted of modest assessments on owned wealth, the tax rate under normal circumstances was 1% and sometimes would climb as high as 3% in situations such as war. These modest taxes were levied against land, homes and other estate, slaves, animals, personal items. The more a person had in property, the tax they paid. In the year 10 AD, Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty instituted an unprecedented income tax, at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor. He was overthrown 13 years later in 23 AD and earlier policies were restored during the reestablished Han Dynasty which followed, one of the first recorded taxes on income was the Saladin tithe introduced by Henry II in 1188 to raise money for the Third Crusade

Income tax
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William Pitt the Younger introduced a progressive income tax in 1798.
Income tax
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Punch cartoon (1907); illustrates the unpopularity amongst Punch readers of a proposed 1907 income tax by the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.

65.
Norwegian language
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Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as extinct languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them, as established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål and Nynorsk. The official Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English. Two other written forms without official status also exist, one and it is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as Standard Norwegian. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, no standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect. Outside Eastern Norway, this variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their written language,5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, examples are Setesdal, the western part of Telemark county and several municipalities in Hallingdal, Valdres, and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in rural parts of Trøndelag. Today, not only is Nynorsk the official language of four of the 19 Norwegian counties, NRK, the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all publications, and Nynorsk in 8%

Norwegian language
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Norwegian ambulances changed their markings in 2005. This is the old appearance, with the Norwegian ambulanse, "Ambulance."
Norwegian language
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Old West Norse dialect

66.
Search and rescue
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Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations. The duty to render assistance is covered by Article 98 of the UNCLOS, there are many different definitions of search and rescue, depending on the agency involved. Canadian Forces, Search and Rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. United States Coast Guard, The use of resources to assist persons or property in potential or actual distress. One of the worlds earliest well-documented SAR efforts ensued following the 1656 wreck of the Dutch merchant ship Vergulde Draeck off the west coast of Australia, survivors sought help, and in response three separate SAR missions were conducted, without success. All 5 crew members of an oil barge, which had run aground on Penfield Reef, were saved before the barge sank, in 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 with 269 occupants was shot down by a Soviet aircraft near Sakhalin. The Soviets sent SAR helicopters and boats to Soviet waters, while a search, South Korean, and Japanese ships and aircraft in international waters, but no survivors were found. In July 2009, Air France Flight 447 was lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, an international SAR effort was launched, to no avail. A third effort nearly two years later discovered the site and recovered the black boxes. In early 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed under mysterious circumstances, many nations contributed to the initial SAR effort, which was fruitless. 3mn to date on fuel and food in its own effort. The search for Flight 370 has become the largest SAR so far with the largest budget, mountain rescue relates to search and rescue operations specifically in rugged and mountainous terrain. Ground search and rescue is the search for persons who are lost or in distress on land or inland waterways, some ground search teams also employ search and rescue dogs. Urban search and rescue, also referred to as Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, is the location and rescue of persons from collapsed buildings or other urban and industrial entrapments. Due to the nature of the work, most teams are multi-disciplinary and include personnel from police, fire. While earthquakes have traditionally been the cause of US&R operations, terrorist attacks, combat search and rescue is search and rescue operations that are carried out during war that are within or near combat zones. Air-sea rescue refers to the use of aircraft and surface vessels, to search for. This treaty contains the definition of high seas, at Article 1, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group is a UN organization that promotes the exchange of information between national urban search and rescue organizations

67.
List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
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This article is a list of known monuments dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. Important regions and capital cities of countries are highlighted in bold, the first Lenin statue in Africa, this monument was constructed in October 1983. The statue was toppled with the fall of the Derg government in 1991 and it was unveiled by then Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov, Indian Prime-minister Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi. Every year on 22 April members of the Communist Party of India, AKG Bhawan - A large bust of Lenin is located in the headquarters of the Communist Party of India in New Delhi. The white bust is installed right in front of the bust of A. K. Gopalan, the bust was a gift from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Before its final installation in the year 2010 it remained isolated in the Headquarters backyard for several years, baikonur - located in the central square of the city Nearly every city and village in the country has a Lenin statue, usually located in the central square. The one in Bishkek was removed from the square and is now located behind the national museum. Ulaanbaatar - in front of Ulaanbaatar Hotel and in proximity to the Mongolian Peoples Party headquarters. In a speech during the ceremony, Mayor Erdeniin Bat-Üül denounced Lenin and his fellow communists as murderers.5 m. There is a glass window of Lenin in the Old Library on Bebelplatz. One statue of Lenin is still standing in Nobelstraße 66 in the yard of a removal company, potsdam - Bust of Lenin placed in the Volkspark Schwerin - Statue of Lenin, made by the Estonian sculptor Jaak Soans and inaugurated on 22 June 1985. Even nowadays this monument is still causing heated debates among politicians, citizen and historians, athens - front of the Headquarters building of the Communist Party of Greece Budapest - created in 1965 by Patzáy Pál, in City Park. In 1991 it was moved to Memento Park, Budapest, the Timewheel now stands on the former site. All statues were taken down in 1991 or soon after, most eventually winding up in Grutas Park and they were erected during the Soviet period and stood, among other places, in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Jonava, Druskininkai, and Jurbarkas. It was placed in the context of an exhibition about the GDR,1992 Brzeg - ex school in military unit of the Soviet Army, removed ca.1992 Stargard - in Kluczewo district, ex military unit of the Soviet Army, removed ca. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of them were destroyed without the consent of their creators and this happened even earlier in the European post-Communist states and in the Baltic states. However, in many of the former Soviet Republics many remain, the monument in the square is the last major Lenin monument to be established in the Soviet Union, in 1988. Others stand in Solombala on the Square, Terekhina on the street, astrakhan - monument installed in the square, VI Lenin Bakhchysarai Balakovo - Saratov region, two monuments Barnaul - three on the main avenue, and one in Upland Park

List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
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Leninplatz, East Berlin, Germany (removed in 1992)
List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
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Kolkata, India
List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
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Vijayawada, India
List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
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Lenin on top of building, East Village, New York City

68.
Avinor
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Avinor AS is a state-owned limited company that operates most of the civil airports in Norway. The Norwegian state, via the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, Avinor was created on 1 January 2003, by the privatization of the Norwegian Civil Aviation Administration known as Luftfartsverket. Its head office is in Bjørvika, Oslo, located on the seaside of Oslo Central Station, Avinor owns and operates 46 airports in Norway, fourteen in association with the Royal Norwegian Air Force, and is responsible for air traffic control services in Norway. In addition to the 46 airports, it operates three Area Control Centers, Bodø Air Traffic Control Center, Stavanger Air Traffic Control Center, as of 2010, the Chief Executive Officer was Sverre Quale who has been in the job since 18 April 2006. He was previously the head of the Norwegian Accident Investigation Board, as of 2011, Sverre Quale has been employed as the Chief Executive at Multiconsult. His replacement, Dag Falk-Petersen, has served as CEO of CHC Helicopters, Avinor has about 2,400 employees, including air traffic control, air navigation services, rescue, maintenance, administration and other airport operations personnel. On 1 July 1947, the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communication created the Aviation Directorate to take over the responsibility for the airports in Norway. Until then the Norwegian Ministry of Defence was responsible for operating airports and this responsibility had been delegated to the Aviation Council within the ministry. The first director was Einar Bøe, followed by Erik Willoch, Ove Liavaag, Randi Flesland, Sverre Quale, the organisation changed its name to Luftfartsverket in 1967. In 1997, Oslo Airport, Fornebu and the then under construction Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and this company still operates Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. On 14 December 2005, CEO Randi Flesland resigned after a dispute with employees. She was temporarily replaced by Nic, nilsen until Sverre Quale took over. Official website About Avinor Official website

Avinor
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Avinor AS

69.
Norwegian Directorate of Mining
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The Norwegian Directorate of Mining with the Commissioner of Mines at Svalbard is a Norwegian government agency responsible for administrating the extraction of mineral resources within the kingdom. The directorate is subordinate to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and co-located with the Norwegian Geological Survey in Trondheim, a total of 18 employees see to the administration of mining legislation, registering claims, approving mine plans and supervising the extractive industry. It is also the supervisory authority concerning environmental impact assessment for planned extraction, the directorate was created in 1986 when the five mining authority districts were merged into one agency. This process was concluded in 1994, from 2003 the Commission er Mines at Svalbard was merged into the directorate

Norwegian Directorate of Mining

70.
Norwegian Polar Institute
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The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norways national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate, the institute conducts research in the polar regions, provides management relevant knowledge for the Norwegian authorities, and organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The institute runs year-round the Sverdrup research station in Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard, in addition the Norvegia station which is located on the Bouvet Island in the Southern Ocean and the Tor Field Station on Antarctica are used for shorter term work. Its offices are in Tromsø and Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in addition to the stations in Queen Maud Land and Svalbard. It has the responsibility to enforce international treaties regarding Antarctic activities by Norwegian citizens or corporations, the institute was founded as Norges Svalbard- og Ishavsundersøkelser by Adolf Hoel in 1928. 1948 -1957 Harald Ulrik Sverdrup 1957 -1960 Anders K, the Norwegian Polar Institute has stated that in 2008 the levels already in January are higher than 2007. Homepage of the Norwegian Polar Institute

71.
Schengen Agreement
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The Schengen Agreement is a treaty which led to the creation of Europes Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1990, the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Convention which proposed the complete abolition of systematic internal border controls and a common visa policy. It currently consists of 26 European countries covering a population of over 400 million people, originally, the Schengen treaties and the rules adopted under them operated independently from the European Union. Several non-EU countries are included in the area, however, systematic identity controls were still in place at the border between most member states. The agreement was signed on the Princess Marie-Astrid boat on the river Moselle near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, three of the signatories, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, had already abolished common border controls as part of the Benelux Economic Union. In 1990, the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Convention which proposed the abolition of border controls. It was this Convention that created the Schengen Area through the abolition of border controls between Schengen member states, common rules on visas, and police and judicial cooperation. In December 1996 two non-EU member states, Norway and Iceland, signed an agreement with the signatories of the Agreement to become part of the Schengen Area. While this agreement never came into force, both countries did become part of the Schengen Area after concluding similar agreements with the EU, the Schengen Convention itself was not open for signature by non-EU member states. In 2009, Switzerland finalised its official entry to the Schengen Area with the acceptance of an agreement by popular referendum in 2005. Now that the Schengen Agreement is part of the acquis communautaire, it has, for EU members, lost the status of a treaty, instead, amendments are made according to the legislative procedure of the EU under EU treaties. Ratification by the former agreement signatory states is not required for altering or repealing some or all of the former Schengen acquis, legal acts setting out the conditions for entry into the Schengen Area are now made by majority vote in the EUs legislative bodies. However, consultations with affected countries are conducted prior to the adoption of new legislation. In 2016, border controls were introduced in seven Schengen countries. This was a response to the European migrant crisis

72.
Diplomatic missions of Russia
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This is a list of diplomatic missions of Russia. These missions are subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Federation has one of the largest networks of embassies and consulates of any country. Russia has significant interests in Eastern Europe, the Near East, Russia established several consulates in the United States and Canada to cater to Russian immigrants. In 1917, the Tsarist government vanished, consuls in seven U. S. cities and three Canadian cities maintained tsarist loyalties and received financing from the U. S. government. The consuls stopped their services in the late 1920s, the U. S. government seized the records of the consulates, the seizure started a long dispute. The National Archives and Records Administration received the documents in 1949, in 1980 the U. S. government loaned the documents of the Canadian consulates to the Library and Archives Canada. On 31 January 1990 the U. S. returned the documents to the Soviet Union, after 1992, due to financial reasons, embassies in Maseru, Niamey, Ouagadougou, and Port Moresby were closed. In 1995 the embassy in Paramaribo also suspended operations, since Georgia and Russia severed diplomatic relations in 2008, the Swiss embassy in Tbilisi hosts a Russian interests section. C

73.
Internal waters
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It includes waterways such as rivers and canals, and sometimes the water within small bays. In inland waters, sovereignty of the state is equal to that which it exercises on the mainland, the coastal state is free to make laws relating to its internal waters, regulate any use, and use any resource. When a foreign vessel is authorized to enter inland waters, it is subject to the laws of the coastal State, with one exception and this extends to labor conditions as well as to crimes committed on board the ship, even if docked at a port. Offences committed in the harbor and the crimes committed there by the crew of a foreign vessel always fall in the jurisdiction of the coastal State, the claim by one state of a waterway as internal waters has led to disputes with other states. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which was formed in 1994, has the power to settle disputes between party states

Internal waters
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Schematic map of maritime zones.

74.
Biology
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Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, identification and taxonomy. Modern biology is a vast and eclectic field, composed of branches and subdisciplines. However, despite the broad scope of biology, there are certain unifying concepts within it that consolidate it into single, coherent field. In general, biology recognizes the cell as the unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity. It is also understood today that all organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable, the term biology is derived from the Greek word βίος, bios, life and the suffix -λογία, -logia, study of. The Latin-language form of the term first appeared in 1736 when Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus used biologi in his Bibliotheca botanica, the first German use, Biologie, was in a 1771 translation of Linnaeus work. In 1797, Theodor Georg August Roose used the term in the preface of a book, karl Friedrich Burdach used the term in 1800 in a more restricted sense of the study of human beings from a morphological, physiological and psychological perspective. The science that concerns itself with these objects we will indicate by the biology or the doctrine of life. Although modern biology is a recent development, sciences related to. Natural philosophy was studied as early as the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent, however, the origins of modern biology and its approach to the study of nature are most often traced back to ancient Greece. While the formal study of medicine back to Hippocrates, it was Aristotle who contributed most extensively to the development of biology. Especially important are his History of Animals and other works where he showed naturalist leanings, and later more empirical works that focused on biological causation and the diversity of life. Aristotles successor at the Lyceum, Theophrastus, wrote a series of books on botany that survived as the most important contribution of antiquity to the plant sciences, even into the Middle Ages. Scholars of the medieval Islamic world who wrote on biology included al-Jahiz, Al-Dīnawarī, who wrote on botany, biology began to quickly develop and grow with Anton van Leeuwenhoeks dramatic improvement of the microscope. It was then that scholars discovered spermatozoa, bacteria, infusoria, investigations by Jan Swammerdam led to new interest in entomology and helped to develop the basic techniques of microscopic dissection and staining. Advances in microscopy also had a impact on biological thinking. In the early 19th century, a number of biologists pointed to the importance of the cell. Thanks to the work of Robert Remak and Rudolf Virchow, however, meanwhile, taxonomy and classification became the focus of natural historians

Biology
Biology
Biology
Biology

75.
Seedbank
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A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity, hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds, one reason is to have on-hand the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality, etc. of plants used in agriculture. Another reason is to forestall loss of diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to conserve biodiversity ex situ. Many plants that were used centuries ago by humans are used less frequently now, Collections of seeds stored at constant low temperature and moisture guard against loss of genetic resources that are otherwise maintained in situ or in field collections. These alternative living collections can be damaged by disasters, outbreaks of disease or war. Seed banks are considered seed libraries and contain information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress or produce novel products. The work of seed banks spans decades and even centuries, most seed banks are publicly funded and seeds are usually available for research that benefits the public. Seed banks store seeds to keep them viable, distribution of seeds from seed banks is a form of swapping seeds The Global Seed Vault is situated in Svalbard, midway between Norway and the Arctic. Seeds are living creatures and keeping them viable over the term requires adjusting storage moisture and temperature appropriately. As they mature on the plant, many seeds attain an innate ability to survive drying. Survival of these so-called orthodox seeds can be extended by dry, the level of dryness and coldness depends mostly on the longevity that is required and the investment in infrastructure that is affordable. Practical guidelines from a US scientist in the 1950s and 1960s, the Hundreds Rule guides that the sum of relative humidity and temperature should be less than 100 for the sample to survive 5 years. Another rule is that reduction of content by 1% or temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit will double the seed life span. Research from the 1990s showed that there is a limit to the effect of drying or cooling. The document advocates drying seeds to about 20% relative humidity, sealing seeds in high quality moisture-proof containers and these conditions are frequently referred to as conventional storage protocols. Seeds from our most important species - corn, wheat, rice, soybean, pea, tomato, broccoli, melon, sunflower, however, there are many species that produce seeds that do not survive the drying or low temperature of conventional storage protocols. These species must be stored cryogenically, seeds of citrus, coffee, avocado, cocoa, coconut, papaya, oak, walnut and willow are a few examples of species that should be preserved cryogenically. Like everything, seeds eventually degrade with time and it is hard to predict when seeds lose viability and so most reputable seed banks monitor germination potential during storage

Seedbank
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Seedbank at the Western Regional Plant Introduction Station
Seedbank
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Plant tissue cultures being grown at a USDA seed bank, the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation.
Seedbank
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Air

76.
Svalbard Undersea Cable System
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The Svalbard Undersea Cable System is a twin submarine communications cable which connects Svalbard to the mainland of Norway. The two optical fiber cable consist of two segments, from Harstad to Breivika in Andøy, and from Breivika to Hotellneset near Longyearbyen in Svalbard. The segments from Harstad to Breivika are 74 and 61 kilometers long, respectively, each consists of eight fiber pairs and there are installed twenty optical communications repeaters on each segment. Each segment has a speed of 10 gigabits per second, with a potential capacity of 2,500 Gbit/s. The system is now the sole link to the archipelago. Planning of the started in 2002 by the Norwegian Space Centre. At the time all telecommunications from Svalbard were relayed via communications satellite, financing was secured through a deal with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The cable system was supplied by Tyco Communications and laying of the cable was carried out by Global Marine Systems in July, SvalSat opened on 15 April 1999. It was established as a cooperation between NASA and NS, however, the ground stations capacity was limited by its broadband capacity. Transmission took place via a 55-Mbit/s connection via Intelsat, which served the archipelagos needs within telephone, Telenor and the NSC conducted a feasibility study in 2002 for connecting SvalSat to the mainland by fiber. It was estimated to cost between NOK400 and 500 million, or US$50 million, which presumed the laying of one cable with satellite used as backup, NSC was in October offered various prices between US$30 and 40 million for the laying of a single fiber cable. NSC conducted negotiations with NASA on 31 October 2002, resulting in an understanding of NASA being able to provide $US20 million towards the line, the following day Telenor stated they were not interested in participating in the venture. Telenor changed its opinion in the weeks and agreed to press forward on 18 November. The invitation to tender was issued on 21 December, with a deadline of 3 February, bringing the line out from Andøya was selected because it is the only trawler-free area along the Norwegian coast north of Trondheim. The tender deadline was extended to 25 February, the bids showed the possibility of laying a twin cable ring for US$40 million. However, the companies were not willing to accept a payment over seven years. Tyco Communications was announced as the winner on 7 March and negotiations were finalized on 14 April, as a turnkey contract on the condition that the cable could be financed. The main difficulty was that NSC, a foundation, had very little equity, hannon Armstrong was selected as a financial partner and the money was guaranteed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry

Svalbard Undersea Cable System
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The landing site at Hotellneset
Svalbard Undersea Cable System
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Cable Innovator was one of the two cable-laying vessels

77.
Optical fiber
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An optical fiber or optical fibre is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Fibers are also used for illumination, and are wrapped in bundles so that they may be used to carry images, thus allowing viewing in confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are used for a variety of other applications, some of them being fiber optic sensors. Optical fibers typically include a transparent core surrounded by a transparent cladding material with an index of refraction. Light is kept in the core by the phenomenon of internal reflection which causes the fiber to act as a waveguide. Fibers that support many propagation paths or transverse modes are called multi-mode fibers, multi-mode fibers generally have a wider core diameter and are used for short-distance communication links and for applications where high power must be transmitted. Single-mode fibers are used for most communication links longer than 1,000 meters, being able to join optical fibers with low loss is important in fiber optic communication. This is more complex than joining electrical wire or cable and involves careful cleaving of the fibers, precise alignment of the cores. For applications that demand a permanent connection a fusion splice is common, in this technique, an electric arc is used to melt the ends of the fibers together. Another common technique is a splice, where the ends of the fibers are held in contact by mechanical force. Temporary or semi-permanent connections are made by means of specialized optical fiber connectors, the field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics. The term was coined by Indian physicist Narinder Singh Kapany who is acknowledged as the father of fiber optics. Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon, John Tyndall included a demonstration of it in his public lectures in London,12 years later. When the ray passes from water to air it is bent from the perpendicular. If the angle which the ray in water encloses with the perpendicular to the surface be greater than 48 degrees, the angle which marks the limit where total reflection begins is called the limiting angle of the medium. For water this angle is 48°27′, for flint glass it is 38°41′, unpigmented human hairs have also been shown to act as an optical fiber. Practical applications, such as close internal illumination during dentistry, appeared early in the twentieth century, image transmission through tubes was demonstrated independently by the radio experimenter Clarence Hansell and the television pioneer John Logie Baird in the 1920s. The principle was first used for medical examinations by Heinrich Lamm in the following decade

Optical fiber
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A bundle of optical fibers
Optical fiber
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Fiber crew installing a 432-count fiber cable underneath the streets of Midtown Manhattan, New York City
Optical fiber
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A TOSLINK fiber optic audio cable with red light being shone in one end transmits the light to the other end
Optical fiber
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A wall-mount cabinet containing optical fiber interconnects. The yellow cables are single mode fibers; the orange and aqua cables are multi-mode fibers: 50/125 µm OM2 and 50/125 µm OM3 fibers respectively.

78.
Harstad
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Harstad is the second-most populated municipality in Troms county, Norway. It is mostly located on the island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the town of Harstad, the most populous town in Central Hålogaland, the town was incorporated in 1904. Villages in the municipality include Elgsnes, Fauskevåg, Gausvik, Grøtavær, Kasfjord, Lundenes, Nergården, the municipality is located on many islands in southern Troms county. Most of the municipality is located on the island of Hinnøya. The municipality contains several islands, including Arnøya, Gressholman, Helløya, Kjeøya, Kjøtta, Kjøttakalven, Flatøya, Meløyvær, Måga, Rogla, Lille Rogla. Harstad is bordered by the municipality Kvæfjord to the west and Tjeldsund to the south, the city itself is located on the northeastern part of on Hinnøya, it is the only city on the island, and is popularly known as Vågsfjordens perle. The highest mountain in Harstad is Sætertinden, which is 1,095 m above sea level and it is located near the village of Sandtorg in southern Harstad. The 412-metre tall mountain, Nupen, is located in the part of the municipality on the border with Kvæfjord. Despite being located north of the Arctic Circle, Harstad features an oceanic climate with relatively mild winters. The city experiences warmer winters than major cities located 25 to 30 degrees farther south in latitude in the northern hemisphere such as Beijing, Chicago, summers in Harstad are cool, with average high temperatures seldom breaking the 22 °C mark. Since the new station opened in August 2002, July 2014 was the warmest month with 6 days above 27 °C. The record low of −16.1 °C was recorded in February 2010, the city enjoys the midnight sun during the summer months, from 22 May to 18 July. There is also a period from early May to early August with twilight for a few hours each night as the sun just dips below the horizon, the polar night, when the sun is always below the horizon, lasts from 30 November to 12 January. At this time, there are 3–4 hours of dawn and dusk around noon, from late January, the period of daylight rapidly increases, reaching 12 hours by March and 18 hours in April. Harstad is located in the midst of the aurora borealis zone, and the aurora can often be seen on clear nights, the town of Harstad was established as a municipality on 1 January 1904 when it was separated from the municipality of Trondenes. The initial population of the town of Harstad was 1,246, on 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Sandtorg, Trondenes, and Harstad were merged to form a new, combined municipality with a population of 17,882. Prior to the merger, Harstad had 3,808 residents, on 1 January 2013, the municipality of Bjarkøy was merged with Harstad, forming a new, larger municipality of Harstad

79.
Satellite
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In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an artificial object which has been intentionally placed into orbit. Such objects are called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as Earths Moon. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, since then, about 6,600 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2013 estimate,3,600 remained in orbit, of those, about 1,000 were operational, the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris. Approximately 500 operational satellites are in orbit,50 are in medium-Earth orbit. A few large satellites have been launched in parts and assembled in orbit. Over a dozen space probes have been placed into orbit around other bodies and become artificial satellites to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, a few asteroids, Satellites are used for many purposes. Common types include military and civilian Earth observation satellites, communications satellites, navigation satellites, weather satellites, Space stations and human spacecraft in orbit are also satellites. Satellite orbits vary greatly, depending on the purpose of the satellite, well-known classes include low Earth orbit, polar orbit, and geostationary orbit. A launch vehicle is a rocket that throws a satellite into orbit, usually it lifts off from a launch pad on land. Some are launched at sea from a submarine or a mobile maritime platform, Satellites are usually semi-independent computer-controlled systems. Satellite subsystems attend many tasks, such as power generation, thermal control, telemetry, attitude control, the first fictional depiction of a satellite being launched into orbit was a short story by Edward Everett Hale, The Brick Moon. The idea surfaced again in Jules Vernes The Begums Fortune, in 1903, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published Exploring Space Using Jet Propulsion Devices, which is the first academic treatise on the use of rocketry to launch spacecraft. He calculated the speed required for a minimal orbit. In 1928, Herman Potočnik published his book, The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor. He described the use of orbiting spacecraft for observation of the ground, in a 1945 Wireless World article, the English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke described in detail the possible use of communications satellites for mass communications. He suggested that three geostationary satellites would provide coverage over the entire planet, the first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4,1957, and initiating the Soviet Sputnik program, with Sergei Korolev as chief designer. This in turn triggered the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, Sputnik 1 helped to identify the density of high atmospheric layers through measurement of its orbital change and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere

80.
Svalbard Satellite Station
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Svalbard Satellite Station or SvalSat is a satellite ground station located on Platåberget near Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway. Opened in 1997, it is operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services, SvalSat and KSATs Troll Satellite Station in Antarctica are the only ground stations that can see a low altitude polar orbiting satellite on every revolution as the earth rotates. The facility consists of 31 multi-mission and customer-dedicated antennas which operate in the C, L, S and X bands, the station provides ground services to more satellites than any other facility in the world. The station also reads and distributes data from the Japanese Hinode solar research satellite, the facility has seen a large increase in smaller customers after 2004, when the Svalbard Undersea Cable System started providing a fiber Internet connection. Concessions for downloading are only issued to civilian satellites, yet some data has been used by armed forces. There is a disagreement as to whether this constitutes a breach of the Svalbard Treaty, the European Space Research Organization established Kongsfjord Telemetry Station in Ny-Ålesund as one of its four initial European Space Tracking Network stations. The facility remained in use from 1967 to 1974, but was closed as it was not suitable for ESROs second generation of satellites, in the 1990s, NSC operated Tromsø Satellite Station, which was used as a ground station for a limited number of satellites. After Rolf Skår was appointed director of NSC, plans were launched to try to win the ground station contract for NASAs planned Earth Observing System, NASA was considering locating the ground station in Greenland, at McMurdo Station in Antarctica or at Esrange in Sweden. Skår invited a NASA delegation to visit Svalbard, and from 1996 NSC, Svalbard was chosen because of its high latitude from which every polar-orbiting satellite above 500 kilometers can be seen on every revolution as the earth rotates within its orbital plane. For the EOS program, Svalbard was supplemented by Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, construction of the road up to Platåberget started in 1996 and a relay station was built to send the data to Isfjord Radio before being sent onwards to a geostationary satellite. The first installation was an 11-meter parabolic antenna with S and X band capability, the first satellite to use SvalSat was Landsat 7, which was launched on 15 April 1999. It was followed up by three other EOS satellites, Terra, Aqua and QuikSCAT, to ensure a sustainable financing of operations, NSC started negotiating with other potential customers. However, the project was rejected by the Indian Space Research Organisation, instead, a cooperation was made with Kongsberg Aerospace and Defence and Lockheed Martin, who built the second antenna as a joint venture. In 2001, a German research group applied for permission to establish a station in Ny-Ålesund. NSC feared that the competition could undermine the financial capabilities of SvalSat, however, no facility in Ny-Ålesund was built. In 2002, ownership and operations of the facility were consolidated, Lockheed Martin was no longer interested in owning a share of the facility, and sold their shares. NSC and Kongsberg merged their interests in the new company, which took over TSS. By 2004, six antennas, between 9 and 13 meters in diameter, had been installed, the reason was lack of optical fiber cable connection to the archipelago

Svalbard Satellite Station
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Svalbard Satellite Station Svalbard satelittstasjon
Svalbard Satellite Station
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The road up to SvalSat with radomes in the background
Svalbard Satellite Station
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SvalSat with Svalbard Airport, Longyear in the front
Svalbard Satellite Station
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NOAA employees in front of one of NOAA's antennas

81.
Off-road
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Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding a vehicle on unsurfaced roads or tracks, made of materials such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicles to competitions with customized vehicles, off-roaders have been met with criticism for the environmental damage incurred by their vehicles. There have also been extensive debates over the role of government in regulating the sport, traveling on off-road terrains require vehicles capable of accommodating off-road driving such as ATVs. These vehicles accommodate off road conditions with extended ground clearance, off-road tires, some manufacturers offer vehicles specifically meant for off-road use. Some examples of recreational off-roading include the following, Dune bashing is a form of off-roading on sand dunes, a Large sport utility vehicle such as the Toyota Land Cruiser is an example of vehicle used. Vehicles driven on dunes may be equipped with a cage in case of an overturn, Similar to auto-racing, experience and skill is required to maneuver the car. Before entering the desert in an everyday-use SUV or pickup, it is essential to reduce the tire pressure. This is done to more traction by increasing the footprint of the tire and, therefore. For example, tires with a pressure of 35 psi would be reduced to approximately 12-14 psi. A common modification is to fit beadlock rims, which allow tire pressure to be lowered further, without risking tire. Upon entering the desert, it is common to meet with a pack of vehicles, the group leader then leads the pack through the stunts in single file. The main reason for this technique is to prevent vehicles from losing track of direction, high speed racing in the open desert includes chases and racing on a rough desert terrain with numerous pots and bumps at the maximum speed. Drivers mostly use RWD and 4WD trucks with long travel suspension, wide stance on the front and this type of trucks is often called Prerunner. Routes in Africa generally have obstacles in largely uninhabited and uncharted terrain and these circuit routes are over 50 km and usually around 300 km long This is a type of travel undertaken with a 4x4 that mostly goes over tracks and contains some bits of off-roading. Traditionally these trips are going through relatively uninhabited areas, popular are the deserts in Tunisia, Morocco and other North African countries, continent crossing trips through Africa, trips through Mongolia or Northern Scandinavia. Due to the weight the suspension is often reinforced with stronger springs. Green laning is a pursuit, generally suitable for any four-wheel-drive vehicle. The term green lane refers to the fact that the routes are predominantly along unsurfaced tracks, forest tracks, in the UK they are usually roads which are not maintained in any way and will often include fords

82.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated

83.
Finnair
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Finnair is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa and its main hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international air travel in Finland and its major shareholder is the government of Finland, with 55. 8% of the shares. Finnair is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, in 2015, it transported over 10 million passengers to over 60 European,13 Asian and 4 North-American destinations. At the end of 2016, the airline employed 4,937 people, Finnair is the fifth oldest airline in the world with uninterrupted existence. With no fatal or hull-loss accidents since 1963, Finnair is consistently on the list of safest airlines in the world, in 1923, consul Bruno Lucander founded Finnair as Aero O/Y. The company code, AY, originates from this, AY stands for Aero Yhtiö, Lucander had previously run the Finnish operations of the Estonian airline Aeronaut. In mid-1923 he concluded an agreement with Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG to provide aircraft, the charter establishing the company was signed in Helsinki on 12 September 1923, and the company was entered into the trade register on 11 December 1923. The first flight was on 20 March 1924 from Helsinki to Tallinn, the seaplane service ended in December 1936 following the construction of the first aerodromes in Finland. Air raids on Helsinki and other Finnish cities made World War II a difficult period for the airline, the Finnish government wanted longer routes so it acquired a majority stake in the company in 1946 and re-established services to Europe in November 1947, initially using the Douglas DC-3. In 1953, the airline began branding itself as Finnair, the Convair 440 twin-engined pressurised airliner was acquired from January 1953 and these faster aircraft were operated on the companys longer routes as far as London. In 1961, Finnair joined the jet age by adding Rolls-Royce Avon-engined Caravelles to its fleet and these were later exchanged with the manufacturer for Pratt & Whitney JT8D-engined Super Caravelles. In 1962, Finnair acquired a 27% controlling interest in a private Finnish airline, Finnair Oy became the companys official name on 25 June 1968. In 1969, it took possession of its first U. S. made jet, the first transatlantic service to New York was inaugurated on 15 May 1969. In the 1960s Finnairs head office was in Helsinki, Finnair received its first widebody aircraft in 1975, two DC-10-30 planes. The first of these arrived on 4 February 1975 and entered service on 14 February 1975, in 1979, Finnair established a subsidiary company Finnaviation for domestic operations, with a 60% stake. In 1983, Finnair became the first operator to fly non-stop from Western Europe to Japan operating Helsinki-Tokyo flights with one McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER, the aircraft was fitted with extra fuel tanks, taking 13 hours for the trip. The routes through Soviet airspace and with a stopover in Moscow also took 13 hours, in the spring of 1986, Soviet regulators finally cleared the way for Air France and Japan Airlines to fly nonstop Paris-Tokyo services over Soviet airspace, putting Finnair at a disadvantage. Finnair launched a Helsinki-Beijing route in 1988, making Finnair the first Western European carrier to fly non-stop between Europe and China, in 1989, Finnair became the launch customer for the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the first of which was delivered on 7 December 1990

84.
Lufttransport
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Lufttransport is a Norwegian helicopter and fixed-wing airline that operates primarily air ambulance helicopters and planes for the Norwegian and Swedish governments. In addition the airline offers services including surveillance for the Norwegian Coast Guard, transport of ship pilots, the airline operates 10 helicopters and 14 fixed-wing aircraft and has headquarters in Tromsø. In 2005 the company had a revenue of 300 million NOK, Lufttransport was started in 1955 and merged with Mørefly in 1995. The company started operations on Svalbard in 1978, transporting crew from the new airport at Longyearbyen to the mines at Svea. From 1994 the airline has operated Dornier Do-228 aircraft at Svalbard, since 2002 the company has co-operated with the shipping pilot service in Bergen, flying pilots out to vessels at sea. In 2005 it also started flying scheduled routes from Bodø to Værøy, in 2000 its owner CHC Helikopter Service, part of CHC Helicopter, sold Lufttransport to Norwegian Air Shuttle. In 2005 Norwegian sold Lufttransport and the Swedish Heliflyg to Norsk Helikopter, as part of a restructuring of its operations, Norsk Helikopter sold Lufttransport in its entirety to Knut Axel Ugland Holding in October 2008. One of the Dornier aircraft also carries out surveillance for the Norwegian Coast Guard, Lufttransport flies about 400 hours per year for the Coast Guard. In addition, two Agusta helicopters are used to ship pilots, based at Bergen Airport, Flesland. Ships exceeding 30000 gross tonnes with petroleum products are required to have a pilot onboard while navigating into the petroleum refineries of Kårstø, Mongstad and Sture

85.
Heliport
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A Heliport is by definition an area of land, water, or structure used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of helicopters, and includes its buildings and facilities. In other words, it is an airport suitable for use by helicopters. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff area, in some larger towns and cities, customs facilities may also be available. Early advocates of helicopters hoped that heliports would become widespread, other terms used to refer to a heliport are, Helistop - A term sometimes used to describe a minimally developed heliport for boarding and discharging passengers or cargo. Helipad - A term oftentimes confused with heliport or helistop, the only reference of this term in the U. S. Helideck - Used to describe the area on a vessel or offshore structure on which helicopters may land. The airspace immediately surrounding the heliport is called the Primary Surface and this area coincides in shape and size with the designated take-off and landing area. This surface is a horizontal plane equal to the elevation of the established heliport elevation, the Primary Surface is further broken down into three distinct regions. These are, the Touchdown and Liftoff area, the Final Approach and Takeoff area, the TLOF is a load-bearing, generally paved area, normally centered in the FATO, on which the helicopter lands and/or takes off. The FATO is an area over which the pilot completes the final phase of the approach to a hover or a landing. The FATO elevation is the lowest elevation of the edge of the TLOF, the Safety Area is a defined area on a heliport surrounding the FATO intended to reduce the risk of damage to helicopters accidentally diverging from the FATO. In a large metropolitan and urban areas a heliport can serve passengers needing to move within the city or to outlying regions. Generally heliports can be situated closer to a town or city center than an airport for fixed-wing aircraft, the advantage in flying by helicopter to a destination or even to the citys main airport is that travel can be much faster than driving. Some skyscrapers feature rooftop heliports or helistops to serve the needs of executives or clients. Many of these sites also serve as Emergency Helicopter Landing Facilities in case emergency evacuation is needed. Bank Tower in Los Angeles is an example, police departments use heliports as a base for police helicopters, and larger departments may have a dedicated large heliport facility dedicated such as the LAPD Hooper Heliport. Heliports are common features at hospitals where they serve to facilitate Helicopter Air Ambulance and MEDEVACs for transferring patients into, some large trauma centers have multiple heliports while most small hospitals have just one. The National EMS Pilots Association has published multiple white papers, surveys, while heliports can be oriented in a any direction they will have generally have very definitive approach and departure paths

86.
West Spitsbergen Current
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The West Spitsbergen Current is a warm, salty current that runs poleward just west of Spitsbergen, in the Arctic Ocean. The WSC branches off the Norwegian Atlantic Current in the Norwegian Sea, the WSC is of importance because it drives warm and salty Atlantic Water into the interior Arctic. The warm and salty WSC flows north through the side of Fram Strait. The EGC is characterized by being cold and low in salinity. Thus, the EGC combined with the warm WSC makes the Fram Strait the northernmost ocean area having ice-free conditions throughout the year in all of the global ocean, the WSC has a unique structure as it flows poleward off the western coast of Spitsbergen. It is easiest to discuss horizontal movements and vertical movements of the WSC, specifically, it tends to follow along steep continental shelves. The current is quite narrow and strong, having a width of roughly 100 kilometers, at about 80° North latitude the WSC splits into two different sections, the Svalbard branch and the Yermak Branch. The Yermak Branch moves northwesterly till about 81°N, and then it moves directly westward, the Return Atlantic Current is directly east of the East Greenland Current. There is a current that splits off from the Yermak Branch and this current is not well understood in the literature, and thus more information is needed. It is believed this current loops back into the Svalbard Branch further along in its track eastward, after the WSC splits off from the Norwegian Atlantic Current it begins to enter very cold atmospheric conditions. This is one element of the formation of the Lower Arctic Intermediate Water, as the current continues to move northward and reaches the continental shelf of western Svalbard it begins to encounter sea-ice. The sea-ice melts due to the warmth of the WSC, winds mix the freshwater and the warm salty water of the WSC mix, creating some Arctic Surface Water. This Arctic Surface Water is now less dense than the Atlantic Water in the WSC, at this point the WSC is still relatively warm and very saline. Thus, this allows the Atlantic Water in the WSC to be isolated from the surface waters. After the current splits into the Svalbard Branch and the Yermak Branch, however, in the Yermak Branch the WSC is not able to penetrate deep inside the Arctic Ocean because the zone it enters has very strong tidal mixing. This allows the Atlantic Water to mix with the Polar Waters, creating more of a mixture of relatively warm. This extends down to about 300 meters which is recognized as the depth of the Return Atlantic Current. For the Svalbard Branch, the Atlantic Water core of the WSC continues to sink as it more and more freshwater on its eastern route

West Spitsbergen Current
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The West Spitsbergen Current transport relative warm and saline water into the Arctic Ocean.

87.
Environment of Svalbard
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Svalbard is an Arctic, wilderness series of islands comprising the northernmost part of the Norwegian territories. It is mostly uninhabited, with only about 3,000 people, attempts to introduce the Arctic hare and the muskox have both failed. There are fifteen to twenty types of mammals, including whales, dolphins, seals, walruses. Polar bears are the symbol of Svalbard, and one of the main tourist attractions. While the bears are protected, anyone outside of settlements is required to carry a rifle to kill polar bears in self defense, Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land share a common population of 3,000 polar bears, with Kong Karls Land being the most important breeding ground. The Svalbard reindeer is a distinct sub-species, and while previously almost extinct, there are a limited number of domesticated animals in Russian settlements. About thirty types of bird are found on Svalbard, most of which are migratory, the Barents Sea is among the areas in the world with most seabirds, with about 20 million individuals during late summer. The most common are little auk, northern fulmar, thick-billed murre, sixteen species are on the IUCN Red List. Particularly Bjørnøya, Storfjorden, Nordvest-Spitsbergen and Hopen are important breeding ground for seabirds, the Arctic tern has the furthest migration, all the way to Antarctica. Only two songbirds migrate to Svalbard to breed, the snow bunting and the wheatear, rock ptarmigan is the only bird to overwinter. Remains of Predator X from the Jurassic period have been found, Svalbard has permafrost and tundra, with both low, middle and high Arctic vegetation. There have been found 165 species of plants on the archipelago, only those areas which defrost in the summer have vegetations, which accounts for about 10% of the archipelago. Vegetation is most abundant in Nordenskiöld Land, around Isfjorden and where effected by guano, while there is little precipitation, giving the archipelago has a steppe climate, plants still have good access to water because the cold climate reduces evaporation. The growing season is short, and may only last a few weeks. There are twenty-nine preserved natural areas, consisting of seven parks, six nature reserves, fifteen bird sanctuaries. In addition, human traces dating from before 1946 are automatically protected, the protected areas make up 39,800 square kilometres or 65% of the land and 78,000 square kilometres or 86. 5% of the territorial waters. All seven national parks are located on Spitsbergen, ten of the bird sanctuaries and Moffen Nature Reserve are located within a national park, while five of the bird sanctuaries are Ramsar sites. Svalbard is on Norways tentative list for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the foundation for conservation was established in the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, and has further been specified in the Svalbard Environmental Act of 2001

Environment of Svalbard
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Svalbard reindeer

88.
Long-tailed skua
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The long-tailed jaeger, known as the long-tailed skua outside the Americas, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. The word jaeger is derived from the German word Jäger, meaning hunter, the English word skua comes from the Faroese name skúgvur for the great skua, with the island of Skúvoy known for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is kjógvi, the genus name Stercorarius is Latin and means of dung, the food disgorged by other birds when pursued by skuas was once thought to be excrement. The specific longicaudus is from Latin longus, long, and cauda and this species is unmistakable as an adult, with grey back, dark primary wing feathers without a white flash, black cap and very long tail. Adults often hover over their breeding territories, juveniles are much more problematic, and are difficult to separate from parasitic jaeger over the sea. They are slimmer, longer-winged and more tern-like than that species, however, they are usually colder toned than Arctic, with greyer shades, rather than brown. This is the smallest of the family at 38–58 cm, depending on season. However up to 29 cm of its length can be made up by the tail which may include the 15 cm tail streamers of the summer adult, the wingspan of this species ranges from 102 to 117 cm and the body mass is 230–444 g. Two subspecies are described, S. l. longicaudus – Vieillot,1819, nominate, S. l. pallescens – Løppenthin,1932, found in eastern Siberia, Arctic North America, and Greenland. This species breeds in the high Arctic of Eurasia and North America, with populations in Russia, Alaska and Canada. It is a migrant, wintering in the south Atlantic and Pacific, passage juvenile birds sometimes hunt small prey in ploughed fields or golf-courses, and are typically quite fearless of humans. They nest on dry tundra or higher fells laying two spotted olive-brown eggs, on the breeding grounds they can be heard making yelping and rattling sounds. Outside of the season they spend most of their time over open ocean and have a harsh kreeah cry. This bird feeds on fish, smaller birds, food scraps, small mammals, fruit, on migration, long-tailed jaegers are more likely to catch their own food, and less likely to steal from gulls and terns than larger species. Long-tailed jaeger photos at Oiseaux. net BirdLife species factsheet for Stercorarius longicaudus Stercorarius longicaudus, Long-tailed jaeger photo gallery at VIREO Interactive range map of Stercorarius longicaudus at IUCN Red List maps Audio recordings of Long-tailed jaeger on Xeno-canto. Stercorarius longicaudus in the Flickr, Field Guide Birds of the World

89.
Arctic hare
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The Arctic hare, or polar rabbit, is a species of hare which is highly adapted to living in the artic tundra, and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a nose, body fat that makes up 20% of its body. It usually digs holes in the ground or under snow to keep warm, Arctic hares look like rabbits but have shorter ears, are taller when standing, and, unlike rabbits, can thrive in extreme cold. They can travel together with other hares, sometimes huddling with dozens or more. The Arctic hare can run up to 60 kilometres per hour, known predators of the Arctic hare are the Arctic fox, red fox, gray wolf, Canada lynx, ermine, snowy owl, gyrfalcon, rough-legged hawk, and humans. The Arctic wolf is probably the most successful predator of the Arctic hare, Arctic foxes and ermines, which are smaller, typically prey on young hares. Gyrfalcon carry hares to their nests, cutting them in half first, gyrfalcons use hare bones and feet in the structure of their nests on Ellesmere Island, peregrine falcons also prey on Arctic hares in the southern end of the hares range. The Snowy owls mainly targets young hare, the French common name of the species derives from Anglo-Saxon harfang, fleas are more common than parasitic worms. The Arctic hare is distributed over the northernmost regions of Greenland, the Canadian arctic islands and Northern Canada, including Ellesmere Island, the Arctic hare is well-adapted to the conditions found in the tundras, plateaus and treeless coasts of this region, including cold weather and frozen precipitation. The Arctic hare may be found at elevations between 0 and 900 m, however, the Arctic hares in the far north of Canada, where summer is very short, remain white all year round. The Arctic hare is one of the largest living lagomorphs, on average, this species measures from 43 to 70 cm long, not counting a tail length of 4. 5–10 cm. The body mass of species is typically between 2. 5–5.5 kg, though large individuals can weigh up to 7 kg. The Arctic hare is a herbivore, and specifically a folivore, Arctic hares feed primarily on woody plants, and willow constitutes 95 percent of their diet year-round. Arctic hare diets are diverse in summer, but still primarily consists of willow, dryas. Arctic hare have been reported to eat meat, including fish. They eat snow to get water, female hares can have up to eight baby hares called leverets. The leverets stay within the home range until they are old enough to survive on their own. There is little information on the lifespan of Arctic hare, some anecdotal evidence suggests they live three to five years in the wild

90.
Pinniped
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Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, there are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and musteloids, Seals range in size from the 1 m and 45 kg Baikal seal to the 5 m and 3,200 kg southern elephant seal, which is also the largest carnivoran. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers, though not as fast in the water as dolphins, seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids use their front limbs primarily to themselves through the water, while phocids. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body, by comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have a tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape predators, like sharks. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates, but a few, like the seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks, male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female, although the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a number of females than those of ice- or water-breeding species. Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating, pups are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea, Seals produce a number of vocalizations, notably the barks of California sea lions, the gong-like calls of walruses and the complex songs of Weddell seals

91.
Franz Joseph Land
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It consists of 191 islands, which cover an area of 16,134 square kilometers, stretching 375 kilometers from east to west and 234 kilometers from north to south. The islands are categorized in three groups, a western, central and eastern, separated by the British Channel and the Austrian Strait, the central group is further divided into a northern and southern section by the Markham Strait. The largest island is George Land, which measures 2,741 square kilometers, followed by Wilczek Land, Graham Bell Island, eighty-five percent of the archipelago is glaciated, with large unglaciated areas being located on the largest islands and many of the smallest islands. The islands have a coastline of 4,425 kilometers. Compared to other Arctic archipelagos, Franz Joseph Land has a high rate of 3.6 square kilometers per coastline kilometer. Cape Fligely on Rudolf Island is the northernmost point of the Eastern Hemisphere, the highest elevations are found in the eastern group, with the highest point located on Wilczek Land,670 meters above mean sea level. The archipelago was first spotted by the Norwegian sealers Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and Johan Petter Aidijärvi in 1865, the first reported finding was in the 1873 Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition led by Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht, who named the area after Emperor Franz Joseph I. The islands, then under the name Fridtjof Nansen Land, were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1926, the Kingdom of Norway rejected the claim and several private expeditions were sent to the islands. With the Cold War, the islands became off limits for foreigners, the islands have been a nature sanctuary since 1994 and became part of the Russian Arctic National Park in 2012. There are two candidates for the discovery of Franz Josef Land, the first was the Norwegian sealing vessel Spidsbergen, with captain Nils Fredrik Rønnbeck and harpooner Johan Petter Aidijärvi. They sailed northeast from Svalbard in 1865 searching for suitable sealing sites, the account is believed to be factual, but an announcement of the discovery was never made, and their sighting therefore remained unknown to subsequent explorers. It was at the common to keep newly discovered areas secret, as their discovery was aimed at exploiting them for sealing and whaling. The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition of 1872–74 was the first to announce the discovery of the islands, starting in July 1872, the vessel drifted from Novaya Zemlya to a new landmass, which they named in honor of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. The expedition contributed significantly to the mapping and exploration of the islands, the next expedition to spot the archipelago was the Dutch Expedition for the Exploration of the Barents Sea, on board the schooner Willem Barents. Constrained by the ice, they never reached land, benjamin Leigh Smiths expedition in 1880, aboard the barque Eira, followed a route from Spitsbergen to Franz Josef Land, landing on Bell Island in August. Leigh Smith explored the vicinity and set up a base at Eira Harbour and he returned the following year in the same vessel, landing at Grey Bay on George Land. The explorers were stopped by ice at Cape Flora, and Eira sank on 21 August and they built a cottage and stayed the winter, to be rescued by the British vessels Kara and Hope the following summer. These early expeditions concentrated their explorations on the southern and central parts of the archipelago, nansens Fram expedition was an 1893–1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean

Franz Joseph Land
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The Nansen–Jackson meeting at Cape Flora, 17 June 1896 (a posed photograph taken hours after the initial meeting)
Franz Joseph Land
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Map of Franz Josef Land
Franz Joseph Land
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The Stella Polare was trapped and threatened to sink. The crew were obliged to land with the utmost haste and to secure materials for building a dwelling.
Franz Joseph Land
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America anchored at Tepliz Bay

92.
Barents Sea
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The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. Known among Russians in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea and it is a rather shallow shelf sea, with an average depth of 230 metres, and is an important site for both fishing and hydrocarbon exploration. Novaya Zemlya, an extension of the part of the Ural Mountains. The southern half of the Barents Sea, including the ports of Murmansk, in September, the entire Barents Sea is more or less completely ice-free. Until the Winter War, Finlands territory also reached to the Barents Sea, with the harbor at Petsamo being Finlands only ice-free winter harbor. There are three types of water masses in the Barents Sea, Warm, salty Atlantic water from the North Atlantic drift, cold Arctic water from the north, and warm. Between the Atlantic and Polar waters, a front called the Polar Front is formed, the lands of Novaya Zemlya attained most of their early Holocene coastal deglaciation approximately 10,000 years before present. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Barentsz Sea as follows, On the west, on the northwest, The eastern shore of West Spitzbergen, Hinlopen Strait up to 80° latitude north, south and east coasts of North-East Land to Cape Leigh Smith. On the north, Cape Leigh Smith across the Islands Bolshoy Ostrov, Gilles and Victoria, on the east, Cape Kohlsaat to Cape Zhelaniya, west and southwest coast of Novaya Zemlya to Cape Kussov Noss and thence to western entrance Cape, Dolgaya Bay on Vaigach Island. Through Vaigach Island to Cape Greben, thence to Cape Belyi Noss on the mainland, on the south, The northern limit of the White Sea. Other islands in the Barents Sea include Chaichy and Timanets, most of its geological history is dominated by extensional tectonics, caused by the collapse of the Caledonian and Uralian orogenic belts and the break-up of Pangaea. These events created the rift basins that dominate the Barents Shelf, along with various platforms. Due to the North Atlantic drift, the Barents Sea has a high biological production compared to other oceans of similar latitude. The spring bloom of phytoplankton can start quite early close to the ice edge, the phytoplankton bloom feeds zooplankton such as Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus glacialis, Calanus hyperboreus, Oithona spp. and krill. The zooplankton feeders include young cod, capelin, polar cod, whales, the capelin is a key food for top predators such as the north-east Arctic cod, harp seals, and seabirds such as common guillemot and Brunnichs guillemot. The fisheries of the Barents Sea, in particular the cod fisheries, are of importance for both Norway and Russia. There is a genetically distinct polar bear population associated with the Barents Sea and its eastern corner, in the region of the Pechora Rivers estuary, has been known as Pechorskoye Morye, that is, Pechora Sea. This sea was given its present name in honor of Willem Barentsz, Barentsz was the leader of early expeditions to the far north, at the end of the sixteenth century

93.
IUCN Red List
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The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the main authority on the conservation status of species. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, the IUCN Red List is set upon precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world, the aim is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to try to reduce species extinction. Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List. The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, the 1964 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants used the older pre-criteria Red List assessment system. Plants listed may not, therefore, appear in the current Red List, IUCN advise that is best to check both the online Red List and the 1997 plants Red List publication. The 2006 Red List, released on 4 May 2006 evaluated 40,168 species as a whole, plus an additional 2,160 subspecies, varieties, aquatic stocks, on 12 September 2007, the World Conservation Union released the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Russ Mittermeier, chief of Swiss-based IUCNs Primate Specialist Group, stated that 16,306 species are endangered with extinction,188 more than in 2006, the Red List includes the Sumatran orangutan in the Critically Endangered category and the Bornean orangutan in the Endangered category. The study shows at least 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth are known to be threatened with extinction, and 836 are listed as Data Deficient. The Red List of 2012 was released 19 July 2012 at Rio+20 Earth Summit, nearly 2,000 species were added, the IUCN assessed a total of 63,837 species which revealed 19,817 are threatened with extinction. With 3,947 described as endangered and 5,766 as endangered. At threat are 41% of amphibian species, 33% of reef-building corals, 30% of conifers, 25% of mammals, the IUCN Red List has listed 132 species of plants and animals from India as Critically Endangered. Extinct – No known individuals remaining, extinct in the wild – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range. Critically endangered – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered – High risk of extinction in the wild. Vulnerable – High risk of endangerment in the wild, near threatened – Likely to become endangered in the near future. Does not qualify for a more at-risk category, widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category. Data deficient – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction, Not evaluated – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria

94.
Storfjorden, Svalbard
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Storfjorden is the body of water separating Spitsbergen in the west from Barentsøya and Edgeøya to the east. Its southern limits are Kikutodden in Sørkapp Land east to Håøya, Tiholmane, Brækmoholmane and its limits on its eastern side are Sundneset on the northern side of Freemansundet south to Palibinramten on the northwest coast of Edgeøya. The northern part is called Ginevra Bay, which lies between Olav V Land and Barentsøya, Storfjorden was historically known as Wybe Jans Water, named after the Frisian whaler Wybe Jansz van Stavoren. The fjord was first labelled as such in 1620, no Man’s Land, A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country. Norwegian Polar Institute Place Names of Svalbard Database Watermass transformations in Storfjorden (R. Skogsetha, P. M

Storfjorden, Svalbard
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Ginevrabotnen, the northern part of Storfjorden

95.
Breeding ground
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Breeding Ground were a Canadian alternative rock band in the 1980s, based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lead singer John Shirreff and guitarist Hugh Gladish were the only consistent members of the band, Breeding Ground were created in 1981 by vocalist Shirreff, guitarist Gladish, and bassist Strayer. This was produced by Paul Tozer, their live audio technician, within a month of its release they were asked to open up for Bauhaus on December 4,1982 at Larrys Hideaway in Toronto. Comparisons to Joy Division and the British cold-wave invasion were quick to surface after this release and they were managed by longtime friend David Hart during this era. Breeding Ground also played at Lees Palace in Toronto in 1986, within a little over a year, they had returned to the studio with this line-up to record Reunion/Slaughter, their second 12 single. Jonathan Davies, the drummer for local band Kinetic Ideals, expressed an interest in assisting with production and this EP was recorded at Quest Studio, Oshawa, and released in October 1983. Reunion/Slaughter was playlisted on Toronto radio station CFNY and again on stations across Canada. Davies was later replaced by Kevin Hunter, who would stay with the band until their break-up in 1990, three years after releasing Reunion/Slaughter, the band returned to the studio in the late winter of 1985 to record their third release, with label Fringe Product. This album, Tales of Adventure, was released April 25,1986, videos were produced for these songs, both directed and produced by Jonathan Strayers younger brother Colin Strayer, the video for This Time Tomorrow was shot on January 28,1986. However, a later, bassist Strayer had left, leading to a brief hiatus in which they disbanded, until reforming with Gary Quinn on bass leading to the follow-up recording. Chris Wardman joined soon after the release of Obscurity & Flair as an additional guitarist and it should be noted that the late Gary Quinn, wrote the lyrics for, and played slide guitar on the track Live Like Fear. Breeding Ground made it to the one spot on the college and university music charts. Obscurity & Flair produced the hit Ceremony of Love, once again featuring Johnson, a third video was shot for this song, produced by Mark Mowad, but received minimal exposure on MuchMusic because it was so dark, literally. Keyboardist Tad Winklarz from Chalk Circle added saxophone on the track Bells Descend, Gladish and Shirreff made a decision to end the second phase of the band in March 1990. In nine years of existence, Breeding Ground released 2 LPs,2 EPs, one greatest-hits CD and 3 music videos

96.
Arctic tern
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The Arctic tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent studies have shown average annual roundtrip lengths of about 70,900 km for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland and these are by far the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom. The Arctic tern flies as well as glides through the air and it nests once every one to three years, once it has finished nesting it takes to the sky for another long southern migration. They have a length of 28–39 cm and a wingspan of 65–75 cm and they are mainly grey and white plumaged, with a red/orangish beak and feet, white forehead, a black nape and crown, and white cheeks. The grey mantle is 305 mm, and the scapulae are fringed brown, the upper wing is grey with a white leading edge, and the collar is completely white, as is the rump. The deeply forked tail is whitish, with outer webs. Arctic terns are long-lived birds, with many reaching fifteen to thirty years of age and they eat mainly fish and small marine invertebrates. The species is abundant, with a one million individuals. While the trend in the number of individuals in the species as a whole is not known, the Arctic tern was known as sea swallow describing their slender shape as they swoop over the water. The genus name Sterna is derived from Old English stearn, tern, the specific paradisaea is from Late Latin paradisus, paradise. The Scots names picktarnie, tarrock and their variants are also believed to be onomatopoeic. Due to the difficulty in distinguishing the two species, all the common names are shared with the common tern. The Arctic tern has a continuous worldwide circumpolar breeding distribution, there are no recognized subspecies and it can be found in coastal regions in cooler temperate parts of North America and Eurasia during the northern summer. During the southern summer, it can be found at sea, the Arctic tern is famous for its migration, it flies from its Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again each year, the shortest distance between these areas being 19,000 km. The long journey ensures that this bird sees two summers per year and more daylight than any other creature on the planet, another example is that of a chick ringed in Labrador, Canada, on 23 July 1928. It was found in South Africa four months later, a 2010 study using tracking devices attached to the birds showed that the above examples are not unusual for the species. In fact, it turned out, previous research had seriously underestimated the annual distances travelled by the Arctic tern, eleven birds that bred in Greenland or Iceland covered 70,900 km on average in a year, with a maximum of 81,600 km

97.
Antarctica
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It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer

98.
Snow bunting
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The snow bunting, sometimes colloquially called a snowflake, is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere, the snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world. The snow bunting is a sexually dimorphic medium size passerine bird and this passerine is a ground-dwelling species that walks, runs and could potentially jump if needed. It is fairly large and long-winged for a bunting and it measures 15 cm with a wingspan of 32–38 cm and weights 30 to 40 grams. The bill is yellow with a tip, and is all black in summer for males. The plumage is white in the underparts and the wings and back have black, the female and male have a different plumage. During the winter season they both have a rufous colouration in the back. In the spring, the buntings will not go through a moult as other birds do, instead the breeding colouration comes with the wearing. Unlike most passerines, it has feathered tarsi, an adaptation to its harsh environment, no other passerine can winter as far north as this species apart from the common raven. This species is confused with the Mckay’s bunting due to the similar colouration of their plumage. Even more, the challenge of identification becomes harder when this two species hybridize in the boundaries of their territories, another similar species is the horned lark, although it has a larger black tail and it has a smaller white patch on the wings. The snow bunting was formerly part of the Emberizidae family that includes American sparrows, buntings and this family was formed after a broad geologically recent radiation of passerine birds. However, it is now part of the Calcariidae family which contains the longspurs, despite the wide distribution of this species there is no a significant difference that exists among different phenotypes. The genus name Plectrophenax is from Ancient Greek plektron, cock’s spur, and phenax imposter, there are four subspecies, which differ slightly in the plumage pattern of breeding males, Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis, Arctic Europe, Arctic North America. Head white, rump mostly black with an area of white. Plectrophenax nivalis insulae, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Scotland, head white with a blackish collar, rump black. Plectrophenax nivalis townsendi, Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka, coastal far eastern Siberia and it is very closely related to the Beringian McKays bunting, which differs in having even more white in the plumage. Hybrids between the two occur in Alaska, and they have been considered conspecific by some authors, though they are treated as separate species

99.
Wheatear
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The wheatears /ˈhwiːtɪər/ are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the family, Turdidae. This is an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska. The name wheatear is not derived from wheat or any sense of ear, the genus name Oenanthe is derived from the Greek oenos wine and anthos flower. It refers to the northern wheatears return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom and this genus formerly included fewer species. This implied that Cercomela and Oenanthe were synonyms, the type species for Oenanthe, is earlier than the type for Cercomela and has taxonomic priority making Cercomela a junior synonym. Most species have black and white or red and white markings on their rumps or their long tails. Most species are sexually dimorphic, only the male has the striking plumage patterns characteristic of the genus. They often nest in crevices or disused burrows. Northern species are long-distance migrants, wintering in Africa

Wheatear
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Wheatears
Wheatear
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Mountain wheatear

100.
Rock ptarmigan
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The rock ptarmigan is a medium-sized gamebird in the grouse family. In Japan, it is known as the raichō, which means thunder bird and it is the official bird of Gifu, Nagano, and Toyama Prefectures and is a protected species nationwide. The rock ptarmigan is 34–36 cm long with a wingspan of 54–60 cm and it is smaller than the willow ptarmigan by about 10%. The males song is a loud croaking, the rock ptarmigan is seasonally camouflaged, its feathers moult from white in winter to brown in spring or summer. The breeding male has upper parts with white wings and under parts. In winter, its plumage becomes completely white except for the black tail and it can be distinguished from the winter willow ptarmigan by habitat—the rock ptarmigan prefers higher elevations and more barren habitat, it is also smaller with a more delicate bill. The rock ptarmigan is a species which breeds across arctic and subarctic Eurasia and North America on rocky mountainsides. Because of the habitat in which it lives, it has only a few predators—such as golden eagles—and it can be surprisingly approachable. It has been introduced to New Zealand, South Georgia, the Kerguelen Islands, during the last ice age, the species was far more widespread in continental Europe. The rock ptarmigan feeds primarily on birch and willow buds and catkins when available and it also eats various seeds, leaves, flowers, and berries of other plant species. Insects are eaten by the developing young, apart from the comb, the male rock ptarmigan has no ornaments or displays that are typical for grouses in temperate regions. Studies on other grouses have shown that much variation in comb size, the males comb has been the focus of studies regarding sexual selection. The correlation to size disappeared after the first year, but the correlation to comb condition remained and this is consistent with another study of the same population of L. muta that showed that mating success overall is correlated to comb condition. Exceptions were first-time breeders, in which the size of the comb influenced mating success, the rock ptarmigan becomes sexually mature at six months of age and commonly has up to six chicks. Because of this high breeding rate, the size of the population is affected very little by factors such as hunting, the ptarmigans genus name, Lagopus, is derived from Ancient Greek lagos, meaning hare, + pous, foot, in reference to the birds feathered legs. The species name, muta, comes from New Latin and means mute and it was for a long time misspelt mutus, in the erroneous belief that the ending of Lagopus denotes masculine gender. However, as the Ancient Greek term λαγωπους is of feminine gender, and the name has to agree with that. The word ptarmigan comes from the Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan, literally croaker, the silent initial p was added in 1684 by Robert Sibbald through the influence of Greek, especially pteron, wing, feather, or pinion

101.
Predator X
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Pliosaurus is an extinct genus of thalassophonean pliosaurid known from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages of Europe and South America. Their diet would have included fish, cephalopods, and marine reptiles and this genus has contained many species in the past but recent reviews found only six to be valid, while the validity of two additional species awaits a petition to the ICZN. Most species of Pliosaurus are notable for their body size, while the others, P. brachydeirus, P. brachyspondylus. Species of this genus are differentiated from other pliosaurids based on seven autapomorphies and it is estimated to have lived approximately 147 million years ago. Analysis of bones from the four flippers suggest that the animal cruised using just two fore-flippers, using the pair for extra speed when pursuing and capturing prey. P. funkeis brain was of a type and size, proportionally, to that of todays great white shark. Later on, thorough scrutiny of this Svalbard specimen revealed that it was not as massive as originally claimed, Pliosaurus brachydeirus is the type species of the genus. Later that year or in 1842, Owen published another study in which the species was relocated to its own genus, however, because this spelling had been abandoned since Phillips, Pliosaurus should be preserved according to Article 33.3.1 of the ICZN. The etymology of the name was not specified, but it probably refers to the shorter teeth of P. brachydeirus compared to teeth of other species then referred to Plesiosaurus. The specific name has erroneously been spelled as brachydirus, for example by Richard Lydekker. The specimen consists of a skull and lower jaw, several axial elements. Other specimens that are referable to this species include OUMNH J.9285, Knutsen revised the validity of this species and was able to diagnose it on a basis of combination of traits. P. brachydeirus had approximately 70 teeth in the lower jaw, Benson et al. also noted that it lacks anisodont premaxillary dentition. The ontogenetic stage of the holotype of P, according to Benson et al. the flat morphology of the proximal surface of the radius or tibia also suggests that it is a juvenile. Pliosaurus brachyspondylus was first described and named by Owen in 1839, the specific name is derived from βραχυς, brachus, meaning short and σπόνδυλος, spondylos, meaning vertebra in Ancient Greek. It was named on the basis of a series of unassociated cervical vertebrae as the holotype and these specimens were collected at Headington Pits near Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, from the Kimmeridge Clay. Several other cervical centra from the strata at Weymouth, Dorsetshire. Eichwald reassigned P. brachyspondylus to Pliosaurus but did not provide diagnosis to distinguished these vertebrae from those of the species of the genus

102.
Marine reptile
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Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semi-aquatic life in a marine environment. The earliest marine reptiles arose in the Permian period during the Paleozoic era, various types of marine gavialid crocodilians remained widespread as recently as the Late Miocene. Others, such as sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles, return to shore to lay their eggs, some marine reptiles also occasionally rest and bask on land. Sea turtles are largely solitary animals, though some do form large, although only seven turtle species are truly marine, many more live dwell in brackish waters. Sea snakes, the most abundant of the reptiles, there are over 60 different species of sea snakes. They inhabit the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, sea snakes are venomous and their bites have been known to be fatal, though generally they only bite when provoked and often inject only a very small, non-fatal quantity of venom. Sea snakes are distinguished from terrestrial snakes by a flattened tail. Marine iguana, marine iguanas live only on the Galapagos Islands and are not fully adapted to marine life, saltwater crocodiles dispose of excess salt in their bodies through specialized salt glands. These animals are the largest species of crocodiles, also making them the largest of the reptiles—they can grow up to six meters in length, most species of marine reptiles are considered endangered to some degree. Saltwater crocodiles are at low risk for extinction, list of marine reptiles Salt gland

Marine reptile
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Sea turtle.
Marine reptile
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The marine iguana Amblyrhynchus cristatus is an iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands that has the ability, unique among modern lizards, to live and forage in the sea, making it a marine reptile.
Marine reptile
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General
Marine reptile
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Marine

103.
Pliosaur
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Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of marine reptiles. Pliosauroids, also known as pliosaurs, are known from the Jurassic. The pliosauroids were short-necked plesiosaurs with large heads and massive toothed jaws and these swimming reptiles were not dinosaurs, but distant cousins of modern turtles. The distinguishing characteristics are a short neck and a head, with larger hind flippers compared to the fore flippers. They were carnivorous and their long and powerful jaws carried many sharp, pliosaurs range from 4 to 15 metres and more in length. Their prey may have included fish, sharks, ichthyosaurs, dinosaurs, the largest known species are Kronosaurus and Pliosaurus macromerus, other well known genera include Rhomaleosaurus, Peloneustes, and Macroplata. Fossil specimens have been found in Africa, Australia, China, Europe, North America, many very early primitive pliosauroids were very like plesiosauroids in appearance and, indeed, used to be included in the family Plesiosauridae. Pliosauroidea was named by Welles in 1943 and it is adapted from the name of the genus Pliosaurus, which is derived from Greek, πλειων meaning more/closely and σαυρος meaning lizard, it therefore means more saurian. The name Pliosaurus was coined in 1841 by Richard Owen, who believed that it represented a link between plesiosauroids and crocodilians, particularly due to their crocodile-like teeth. The taxonomy presented here is based on the plesiosaur cladistic analysis proposed by Hilary F. Ketchum. Bishanopliosaurus Eurycleidus Macroplata Maresaurus Rhomaleosaurus Meyerasaurus Sthenarosaurus, pliosauridae and Rhomaleosauridae are stem-based taxons too. Pliosauridae is defined as all taxa more related to Pliosaurus brachydeirus than to Leptocleidus superstes. Rhomaleosauridae is defined as all taxa more related to Meyerasaurus victor than to Leptocleidus superstes. The cladogram below follows a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Hilary F. Ketchum and Roger B. J. Benson, in 2002, the discovery of a very large pliosauroid was announced in Mexico. This pliosauroid came to be known as the Monster of Aramberri, the size of this specimen has been estimated to be about 49 feet long and it had a 10-foot long skull. Consequently, although reported as such, it does not belong to the genus Liopleurodon. The remains of animal, consisting of a partial vertebral column, were dated to the Kimmeridgian of the La Caja Formation. The fossils were found earlier, in 1985, by a geology student and were at first erroneously attributed to a theropod dinosaur by Hahnel

104.
Isfjorden (Svalbard)
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Isfjorden is the second longest fjord in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It lies on the west side of Spitsbergen, an island in the Arctic Ocean about midway between Norway and the North Pole, and the largest in the archipelago. The mountain of Alkhornet stands on the side of the entrance to the fjord. A portion of Isfjorden is included in the parks of Norway as Nordre Isfjorden Land National Park. Around the fjord lie many of the largest settlements in Svalbard, Barentsburg, a Basque whaling ship from San Sebastian, under the command of Juan de Erauso and piloted by the Englishman Nicholas Woodcock, was the first to establish a temporary whaling station here in 1612. In 1613 French, Basque, and Dutch whaling ships resorted to Safehaven on the side of Isford or in Green Harbour on the south side of the fjord. All were either driven off by armed English ships or were forced to pay a fine of some sort, in 1614 the Dutch agreed to give Isfjorden to the English. The English continued to use Isfjorden as a base until at least the late 1650s. The Svenskehuset Tragedy occurred in 1872–73 at Cape Thordsen in Isfjorden, seventeen men died in Svenskehuset, now the oldest house on Spitsbergen. Today it is preserved as a heritage site. No Mans Land, A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the Scientific Exploration of the Country, foraminifera from Isfjorden - illustrated catalogue

105.
Permafrost
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In geology, permafrost is ground, including rock or soil, at or below the freezing point of water 0 °C for two or more years. Most permafrost is located in high latitudes, but alpine permafrost may exist at altitudes in much lower latitudes. Ground ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, Permafrost accounts for 0. 022% of total water on earth and exists in 24% of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere. It also occurs subsea on the shelves of the continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean, portions of which were exposed during the last glacial period. A global temperature rise of 1.5 °C above current levels would be enough to start the thawing of permafrost in Siberia, Permafrost is soil, rock or sediment that is frozen for more than two consecutive years. In areas not overlain by ice, it exists beneath a layer of soil, rock or sediment, in practice, this means that permafrost occurs at an average air temperature of -2 °C or colder. Active layer thickness varies with the season, but is 0.3 to 4 meters thick, in the Northern Hemisphere, 24% of the ice-free land area, equivalent to 19 million square kilometers, is more or less influenced by permafrost. Most of this area is found in Siberia, northern Canada, Alaska, beneath the active layer annual temperature swings of permafrost become smaller with depth. The deepest depth of permafrost occurs where geothermal heat maintains a temperature above freezing, above that bottom limit there may be permafrost, whose temperature doesnt change annually—isothermal permafrost. The extent of permafrost varies with the climate, today, a considerable area of the Arctic is covered by permafrost. Overlying permafrost is an active layer that seasonally thaws during the summer. Plant life can be supported only within the active layer since growth can occur only in soil that is fully thawed for some part of the year, thickness of the active layer varies by year and location, but is typically 0. 6–4 m thick. In areas of continuous permafrost and harsh winters, the depth of the permafrost can exceed 1,400 m, Permafrost can also store carbon, both as peat and as methane. Work investigating the permafrost carbon pool size estimates that 1400–1700 Gt of carbon is stored in the northern circumpolar permafrost region, while a recent study that includes stores of the Tibetan Plateau, estimates total carbon pools in the permafrost of the Northern Hemisphere to be 1832 Gt. This large carbon pool represents more carbon than currently exists in all living things, Permafrost typically forms in any climate where the mean annual air temperature is less than the freezing point of water. Exceptions are found in moist-wintered forest climates, such as in Northern Scandinavia and the North-Eastern part of European Russia west of the Urals, fossil cold anomalies in the Geothermal gradient in areas where deep permafrost developed during the Pleistocene persist down to several hundred metres. This is evident from temperature measurements in boreholes in North America, typically, the below-ground temperature varies less from season to season than the air temperature, with mean annual temperatures tending to increase with depth. Thus, if the annual air temperature is only slightly below 0 °C

106.
Guano
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Guano is the accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats. As a manure, guano is an effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. During the twentieth century, guano-producing birds became an important target of conservation programs, today, guano is increasingly sought after by organic farmers. Seabird guano consists of nitrogen-rich ammonium oxalate and urate, phosphates, as well as some earth salts, the word guano originates from the Andean indigenous language Quechua, which refers to any form of dung used as an agricultural fertilizer. Archaeological evidence suggests that Andean people have collected guano from small islands, spanish colonial documents suggest that the rulers of the Inca Empire assigned great value to guano, restricted access to it, and punished any disturbance of the birds with death. The Guanay cormorant has historically been the most abundant and important producer of guano, other important guano producing species off the coast of Peru are the Peruvian pelican and the Peruvian booby. At that time, massive deposits of guano existed on some islands, in this context the United States passed the Guano Islands Act in 1856, which gave U. S. citizens discovering a source of guano on an unclaimed island exclusive rights to the deposits. Nine of these islands are still officially U. S. territories, control over guano played a central role in the Chincha Islands War between Spain and a Peruvian-Chilean alliance. Indentured workers from China played an important role in guano harvest, the first group of 79 Chinese workers arrived in Peru in 1849, by the time that trade ended a quarter of a century later, over 100,000 of their fellow countrymen had been imported. There is no evidence that enslaved Pacific Islanders participated in guano mining. Between 1847 and 1873, there was a significant increase in Peruvian guano exports, after 1870, the use of Peruvian guano as a fertilizer was eclipsed by saltpeter in the form of caliche extraction from the interior of the Atacama Desert, not far from the guano areas. Since 1909, when the Peruvian government took over guano extraction for use by Peru farmers, South Africa independently developed its own guano industry based on sustained-yield production from marine birds during this period, as well. Both industries eventually collapsed due to pressure from overfishing, DNA testing has suggested that new potato varieties imported alongside Peruvian seabird guano in 1842 brought a virulent strain of potato blight that began the Irish Potato Famine. The ideal type of guano is found in dry climates. Post-depositional decomposition and ammonia volatilization of penguin guano also plays an important role in the evolution of ornithogenic sediments in the cold, Bat guano is usually mined in caves and this mining is associated with a corresponding loss of troglobytic biota and diminishing of biodiversity. Guano deposits support a variety of cave-adapted invertebrates that rely on bat feces as their sole source of nutrition. The greatest damage caused by mining to caves with extant guano deposits is to the bat colonies themselves, bats are highly vulnerable to regular disturbance to their roosts. Some species, such as Phyllonycteris aphylla, have low fat reserves, many species will drop pups when in panic, with subsequent death, leading to a steady reduction in population

Guano
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The nest of the Peruvian booby is made of almost pure guano.
Guano
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The Guanay cormorant has historically been the most important producer of guano.
Guano
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Mining guano in the Chincha Islands off the central coast of Peru c. 1860.
Guano
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Advertisement for guano, 1884.

107.
Indre Wijdefjorden National Park
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Indre Wijdefjorden National Park is located in a steep fjord landscape in northern Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It covers the part of Wijdefjorden—the longest fjord on Svalbard. The national park was established on 9 September 2005 and covers 1,127 km2, on both sides of Wijdefjorden there is High Arctic steppe vegetation, dominated by grasses and extremely dry, basic earth. There are some areas dominated by exposure of mineral earth, the area around the fjord has a vegetation which is unique and not preserved in other areas of Svalbard. Along with vegetation found on nesting cliffs, it is the most exclusive flora in Svalbard, there are several exclusive species in the national park, including Stepperøykvein, Puccinellia svalbardensis, Gentianella tenella and Kobresia simpliciuscula. Of the larger fjords on Svalbard, Wijdefjorden is the least affected by humans, indre Wijdefjorden National Park covers 1,127 km2, of which 745 km2 is on land and 382 km2 is sea, making it the smallest national park in Svalbard. It is located in the steep fjord landscape on both sides of the parts of Wijdefjorden on Spitsbergen. At 108 kilometres length, Wijdefjorden is the longest fjord on Svalbard and it is located on the northern coast of Spitsbergen, between Andrée Land to the west, Dickson Land to the south and Ny-Friesland to the east. The inner parts of Wijdefjorden split into two, with the eastern, 32-kilometre long part known as Austfjorden, and the shorter as Vestfjorden, at the end of Austfjorden is the glacier Mittag-Lefflerbreen. The inner parts of the fjord receive some of the lowest precipitation of the archipelago, combined with the exposed basic earth, this results in Europes only High Arctic steppe. The only other area with this landscape is the north of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the rock bed on each side of the fjord is different. On the west side there are Devonian deposits, while there is bedrock on the east side, the fjord has a unique shape, it has a wide mouth, but at Elvetangen there is a shallow section which is 50 metres deep. This reduces the circulation in the parts of the fjord. Average July temperatures range from 4 to 6 °C, and in January temperatures are normally between −12 and −16 °C, the Arctic climate results in permafrost, which can be up to 100 metres deep. The shelter of the mountains gives the inland fjord areas less temperature difference than the coast, the area around Wijdefjorden was first used by Russian, and later Norwegian, trappers. The cabin at Krosspynten was erected in 1910, and two later the cabin at Purpurdalen was built. Trappers considered the area to have few polar bears but much fox, in 1928, a season of trapping gave about 50 Arctic foxes. In 1932, the areas special vegetation was protected, which was assimilated into the park when it was created

Indre Wijdefjorden National Park
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Indre Wijdefjorden National Park

108.
Northern Lights (novel)
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Northern Lights is a young-adult fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, published by Scholastic UK in 1995. Northern Lights is the first book of a trilogy, His Dark Materials, alfred A. Knopf published the first US edition April 1996, entitled The Golden Compass. Under that title it has adapted as a 2007 feature film by Hollywood. Pullman won the 1995 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the years outstanding British childrens book. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal, it was named one of the top ten winning works by a panel, Northern Lights won the public vote from that shortlist and was thus named the all-time Carnegie of Carnegies on 21 June 2007. The novel is set in a world dominated by a theocracy, the Magisterium. In this world, humans souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sentient dæmons, talking animal spirits that constantly accompany, aid, and comfort their humans. Childrens dæmons can freely and instantaneously change their appearance into that of any real or mythical creature, once people reach puberty, however, 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua runs wild with her dæmon Pantalaimon around Jordan College, Oxford, under the guardianship of the colleges master. One day, she witnesses the Master poison wine intended for Lord Asriel, Lyras rebellious, the Oxford scholars agree to fund his research, considered heretical by the oppressive Church. Lyras friend Roger goes missing, presumed kidnapped by child abductors known only as the Gobblers, Lyra is adopted by a charming socialite, Mrs Coulter. Before Lyra leaves Jordan, the Master secretly entrusts her with an alethiometer, a truth-telling device, after several weeks, Lyra discovers that Coulter is the leader of the Gobblers, a secret Church-funded project. Horrified, Lyra flees to the Gyptians, canal-faring nomads, many of children have also been abducted. They reveal to Lyra that Asriel and Coulter are her parents, the Gyptians form an expedition to the Arctic, where they believe the Gobblers are holding their children. They stop in Trollesund, where Lyra meets Iorek Byrnison, the royal heir of the panserbjørne armoured bears. Lyra uses her alethiometer to locate Ioreks missing armour, in exchange, he and his human aeronaut friend and she also learns that Lord Asriel has been exiled, guarded by the panserbjørne on Svalbard. Trollesunds witch consul tells the Gyptians of a prophecy about Lyra which she must not know, the party continue towards Bolvangar, the Gobbler research station. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra detours at a village and discovers a child who has been cut from his dæmon. She realises the Gobblers are experimenting on children by severing the bond between human and dæmon, a process called intercision

109.
Philip Pullman
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Philip Pullman CBE, FRSL is an English writer. He is the author of several best-selling books, most notably the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and the biography of Jesus, The Good Man Jesus. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945, in a 2004 poll for the BBC, Pullman was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. The first book of Pullmans His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights, won the 1995 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the years outstanding English-language childrens book. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal it was named one of the top ten winning works by a panel and it won the public vote from that shortlist and was thus named the all-time Carnegie of Carnegies in June 2007. It has been adapted as a film under its U. S. title, Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England, the son of Audrey Evelyn Pullman and Royal Air Force pilot Alfred Outram Pullman. The family travelled with his fathers job, including to Southern Rhodesia, though the majority of his formative years was spent in Llanbedr in Ardudwy, north Wales. His father, an RAF pilot, was killed in a crash in 1954 in Kenya when Pullman was seven. Pullman said at the beginning of a 2008 exchange that to him as a boy, his father was a hero, steeped in glamour, the main task of the Harvards has been bombing and machine-gunning Mau Mau and their hideouts in densely wooded and difficult country. This included diving steeply into the gorges of rivers, often in conditions of low cloud, testing conditions, yes, but not much opposition from the enemy, the journalist in the exchange continued. Very few of the Mau Mau had guns that could land a blow on an aircraft and his mother remarried, and with a move to Australia came Pullmans discovery of comic books including Superman and Batman, a medium which he continues to espouse. From 1957 he was educated at Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech, Gwynedd, and spent time in Norfolk with his grandfather, around this time Pullman discovered John Miltons Paradise Lost, which would become a major influence for His Dark Materials. From 1963, Pullman attended Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a Third class BA in 1968 and he discovered William Blakes illustrations around 1970, which would also later influence him greatly. Pullman married Judith Speller in 1970 and began teaching children aged 9 to 13 at Bishop Kirk Middle School in Summertown, North Oxford and his first published work was The Haunted Storm, which was joint-winner of the New English Librarys Young Writers Award in 1972. He nevertheless refuses to discuss it, galatea, an adult fantasy-fiction novel, followed in 1978, but it was his school plays which inspired his first childrens book, Count Karlstein, in 1982. He stopped teaching shortly after the publication of The Ruby in the Smoke, his childrens book. Pullman taught part-time at Westminster College, Oxford, between 1988 and 1996, continuing to write childrens stories and he began His Dark Materials in about 1993. The first book, Northern Lights was published in 1995, Pullman won both the annual Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Childrens Fiction Prize, a similar award that authors may not win twice

Philip Pullman
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Philip Pullman's imagined Coat of Arms, "A bird of the raven family with a diamond in her beak. This is the storyteller: storytellers always steal their stories, every story has been told before."
Philip Pullman
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Pullman in April 2005

110.
Sky Atlantic
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Sky Atlantic is a television channel owned and operated by Sky plc. It broadcasts in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, separate channels with the same name also operate in Germany, Italy and Austria. This article is about the version of the channel produced in the UK and it launched on 1 February 2011 on Sky in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Sky Atlantic is available in standard definition and high definition, the latter on Sky Atlantic HD. Stuart Murphy extended his responsibilities to become director of programmes for Sky 1, Sky 2, Pick, on 5 May 2011, Elaine Pyke, the head of drama at Sky, was promoted to director of Sky Atlantic, reporting to Murphy. Programmes on the channel are also offered to Sky customers via on-demand channels including the On Demand, both BT TV and Virgin Media had held talks with Sky over the new channel but have been unable to agree a carriage deal, in Virgins case due to pricing. It was announced on 25 October 2010 that Sky Atlantic would launch on Sky channel 108, a one-hour timeshift of Sky Atlantic started broadcasting on 20 September 2012 on channel 173. Sky Atlantic relies heavily on screenings of US television programmes, with 40% of all programming coming from HBO, in January 2016, Sky expanded the portfolio shown on Atlantic after purchasing exclusive rights to Showtime programming. The following is a list of the ten most watched programmes on Sky Atlantic, the number of viewers does not include repeats or Irish ratings

Sky Atlantic

111.
Tove Styrke
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Tove Anna Linnéa Östman Styrke is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She gained popularity as a contestant on Swedish Idol 2009, finishing in third place, after Idol 2009, she started a solo career as an electropop singer and songwriter. She released her debut album Tove Styrke in 2010, the New York Post included Styrke in its list of 10 Artists to Know in 2011. Styrke was born in Umeå, Sweden and she has two sisters, one younger and one older. Her father, musician Anders Östman, scored a number one hit on the Swedish radio chart, Svensktoppen and her mother was a ballet instructor and Styrke took classes from her at an early age. After competing on Swedish Idol 2009 and finishing in third place, in June 2010, she released her first single, Million Pieces which was co-written by Adam Olenius from Shout Out Louds and Lykke Li. On 12 November 2010, she released her album, Tove Styrke. The album has produced by Patrik Berger, Lotus & 2manyfreckles, Peter Ågren, Janne Kask. It peaked at #10, spending 35 weeks on the top charts in Sweden. It was first certified gold, then later received platinum certification in Sweden, the majority of the album was co-written by Styrke. The album was later re-released in March 2012 in Germany with two new songs, Call My Name and Sticks and Stones and her second single, White Light Moment, charted at number 5 on the Swedish top singles chart and received gold certification. White Light Moment was later nominated for Best Song of the Year at Grammisgalan 2012, in January 2011, Styrke won the Best Newcomer award at P3 Guld. At ceremony, she performed a version by Familjen of Million Pieces. At the end of February 2011, Styrke issued her first EP, High and Low, in April 2011, Styrke featured in an IKEA commercial, where she performed the Swedish lullaby Byssan Lull. On 19 August 2011, the promotional single Call My Name was released on digital download, the song peaked at number 6 on the Swedish Singles Chart. Call My Name was later nominated for Best Song of the Year at P3 Guld, also in August 2011, the temporary band Kedjan that included Styrke and various Swedish artists, released in Sweden the charity single Ringar på vattnet. In September 2011, the Swedish band Caotico collaborated with Styrke on their single released Brains Out and she also appeared in the music video for the single. In 2013 Styrke signed a contract with Sony Music UK, on 22 May 2014 she released her comeback single, Even If Im Loud Doesnt Mean Im Talking To You, on iTunes in Sweden

112.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. As of February 2017, there are more than 400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube each minute, as of April 2017, the website is ranked as the second most popular site in the world by Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis company. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day

113.
BBC HD Nordics
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BBC HD Nordics was a television channel broadcasting high-definition programming to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. The channel is included in HD Cable Platform Teledünya in Turkey. The channel was launched on 3 December 2008 from the Canal Digital platform and it was the third BBC HD channel overall, and the first in Continental Europe. The launch of BBC HD coincided with the launch of BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle, the channel broadcasts round-the-clock and heavily features BBC dramas and natural documentaries such as Bleak House and Planet Earth. BBC HD ceased broadcast in the Nordic region on Tuesday 5 January 2016

BBC HD Nordics
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BBC HD

114.
Norid
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Uninett Norid AS, trading as Norid, is the domain name registry for the three Norwegian country code top-level domains. no. sj and. bv. The non-profit company is based in Trondheim, where it shares offices with its parent company Uninett, Norid operates under contract with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, supervised by the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority. Uninett took over responsibility for the Norwegian domain in 1987, the registry for. no was in 1983 given to Pål Spilling at the Norwegian Telecommunications Administrations research institute. At the time Uninett was administrated as a division of SINTEF, Norid was established as a division within Uninett in 1996, with the responsibility of managing the. no domain. On 21 August 1997, Norid was given the responsibility for the newly created. sj, at the same time, Norid was transferred to Uninett FAS. In 1998, two organizations were established, the Domain Resolution Body, to determine domain disputes, and Norpol, Domain name registrars were introduced in 1999 to handle aspects that could be provided by a third party. Uninett Norid was made a subsidiary of Uninett in 2003. Uninett Norid AS is a company wholly owned by Uninett. The offices are co-located with Uninett in Trondheim, Norid manages three country ccTLDs. no. sj and. bv. The former is the domain for Norway, and the latter two are not open for registration. In 2009, the company had a revenue of 23.1 million Norwegian krone, Norid is a member of the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries. The policy for use of the domains is regulated by the Regulation Concerning Domain Names Under Norwegian Country Code Top-level Domains and this regulation also regulates. bv and. sj, and would be effective for these, should they later come unto use. Only organizations with a presence in Norway and with registration in the Brønnøysund Register Centre are allowed to register domains under. no. Each organization can register 100 directly under the. no domain, Domain names must consist of 2 to 63 characters. Permitted characters are the lower-case English letters a through z, digits, Norid also maintains a series of second-level domains for geographic locations and special institutions. There is also a series of names that cannot be registered. The domains. bv and. sj remain reserved for future use. Sale of the two unused ccTLDs has not been an item to consider for policymakers, as commercialization of the resources is in direct contradiction to Norwegian policy. no eller aldri

Norid
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Uninett Norid AS

115.
Central Intelligence Agency
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As one of the principal members of the U. S. Intelligence Community, the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is focused on providing intelligence for the President. Though it is not the only U. S. government agency specializing in HUMINT and it exerts foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Special Activities Division. Despite transferring some of its powers to the DNI, the CIA has grown in size as a result of the September 11 attacks. In 2013, The Washington Post reported that in fiscal year 2010, the CIA has increasingly expanded its roles, including covert paramilitary operations. One of its largest divisions, the Information Operations Center, has shifted focus from counter-terrorism to offensive cyber-operations, when the CIA was created, its purpose was to create a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis. Today its primary purpose is to collect, analyze, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, with Pakistan described as an intractable target. Counterintelligence, with China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, the Executive Office also supports the U. S. military by providing it with information it gathers, receiving information from military intelligence organizations, and cooperates on field activities. The Executive Director is in charge of the day to day operation of the CIA, each branch of the military service has its own Director. The Directorate has four regional groups, six groups for transnational issues. There is a dedicated to Iraq, regional analytical offices covering the Near East and South Asia, Russia and Europe, and the Asian Pacific, Latin American. The Directorate of Operations is responsible for collecting intelligence. The name reflects its role as the coordinator of intelligence activities between other elements of the wider U. S. intelligence community with their own HUMINT operations. This Directorate was created in an attempt to end years of rivalry over influence, philosophy, in spite of this, the Department of Defense recently organized its own global clandestine intelligence service, the Defense Clandestine Service, under the Defense Intelligence Agency. This Directorate is known to be organized by regions and issues. The Directorate of Science & Technology was established to research, create, many of its innovations were transferred to other intelligence organizations, or, as they became more overt, to the military services. For example, the development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft was done in cooperation with the United States Air Force, the U-2s original mission was clandestine imagery intelligence over denied areas such as the Soviet Union. It was subsequently provided with signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence capabilities, subsequently, NPIC was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

116.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg

117.
Verdens Gang
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Verdens Gang, generally known under the abbreviation VG, is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2015, circulation stood at 112,716, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. VG is nevertheless the most read newspaper in Norway, with about 1.9 million daily readers. Verdens Gang AS is a company wholly owned by the public company Schibsted ASA. Approximately 30% of Schibsted is owned by English and American investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, VG was established by members of the resistance movement shortly after the country was liberated from German occupation in 1945. The first issue of the paper was published on 23 June 1945, christian A. R. Christensen was the first editor-in-chief of VG from its start in 1945 to 1967 when he died. The paper is published in tabloid format, Schibsted took over the paper following the death of Christensen in 1967. Just before the change in the ownership VG was mostly sold in the Oslo area and had a circulation of 34,000 copies, VG is not affiliated with any political party. For many years, VG was the largest newspaper in Norway by circulation, as its readers moved from the traditional newspaper to internet newspapers, the circulation has collapsed to 112,000 in 2015. VG is now the second largest print newspaper in Norway and it was overtaken by Aftenposten in 2010. The online newspaper vg. no is, however, by far the most visited in Norway, VG Nett is VGs news site online. VG Nett made a net operating profit of 40 percent in 2006, according to figures from TNG Gallup, it had 1.92 million daily readers in 2015, down from 1.99 million in 2013. VGs web pages include an discussion forum, VG Debatt. Numbers from the Norwegian Media Businesses Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening

Verdens Gang
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Front page from 8 October 2006. Featured in the cover story is Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch.

118.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946

The New York Times
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Cover of The New York Times (November 15, 2012), with the headline story reporting on Operation Pillar of Defense.
The New York Times
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First published issue of New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851.
The New York Times
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The Times Square Building, The New York Times ‍ '​ publishing headquarters, 1913–2007
The New York Times
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The New York Times newsroom, 1942

119.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005

UNESCO
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UNESCO offices in Brasília
UNESCO
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UNESCO
UNESCO
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UNESCO Institute for Water Education in Delft
UNESCO
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The Garden of Peace, UNESCO headquarters, Paris. Donated by the Government of Japan, this garden was designed by American-Japanese sculptor artist Isamu Noguchi in 1958 and installed by Japanese gardener Toemon Sano.

120.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an EAN-13 bar code

121.
Spartacus Books
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Since 1973, Spartacus Books is a non-profit, volunteer and collectively run bookstore and resource centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and only one of its kind in the city. Spartacus sells new and used books, zines, comics, magazines, CDs, videos, T-shirts, patches, pins, posters, Spartacus Books is one of the longest running collectively run bookstores in North America. The building where it had long been located completely burned down on April 25,2004, the store once again opened for business on February 12,2006 at 319 West Hastings Street, immediately adjacent to the old location. However, due to the increasing cost of real estate in Vancouver, in 2014 it moved out of the Downtown Eastside to 3378 Findlay St. Spartacus Books was originally started at Simon Fraser University by Roger Perkins, who worked at the SFU bookstore. It was initially called the Spartacus Socialist Education Society, however over the years it has become a place for people of widely divergent political views. However, they all agreed that they needed to get books, the bookstore originally was in a space shared by a pool-hall run by the American Exiles Association, a group of American military deserters and war resisters. Later, it moved to 311 West Hastings Street, where it operated for 30 years until the fire in 2004, the fire started on April 25,2004 at 6,00 AM in a back dumpster behind the store. There has been an investigation into the fire, however the cause of the fire wasnt certain, Spartacus Books has a large collective, and the collective operates by writing in a store journal. The store journal is a version of a wiki. Each volunteer would write down important information that happened on their volunteer shift, over the period of time the original store was open, the journals would be the main piece of history as to what happened at the store. Fundraising for Spartacus Books came in the way of donations. They managed to get money, used books and other donated items from the now-shut down Granville Book Company, which allowed the store to get space. In November 2005, the new space opened its doors to the public for a book release, however, the book store was far from being open. For example, there was no heat or electricity, however, by February 2006, Spartacus was back, and had a strong volunteer list of over 60 people in the collective. In late 2012, new landlords bought the building that Spartacus Books is in, soon after, the new landlords terminated Spartacus lease and told Spartacus to vacate the premises by July 31,2013. This eviction notice was cancelled following media attention to Spartacuss renoviction, the landlord announced that he would not be renewing the lease, which ran through to the end of July 2014, but would be happy if the store was able to move out prior to that date. As a result, Spartacus Books moved to a new storefront at 3378 Findlay at the end of May 2014, Spartacus Books is a bookstore that is run by a loosely organized collective which operates on a very horizontal consensus decision making structure. The bookstore is often used for events such as movie nights and book releases

Spartacus Books
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The exterior of Spartacus Books on Findlay Street

122.
Archaeology of Svalbard
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The archaeology of Svalbard is the study of human activity in the northerly Arctic Ocean archipelagos past. The geography, environment and climate of Svalbard have together created a special situation for the recovery. On the other hand, that same geographical isolation and harsh environment frequently makes archaeological fieldwork both expensive and physically challenging, in modern times, both these factors are however rapidly changing. All cultural heritage sites or objects originating from 1946 or before are automatically protected by law, the scientific field of archaeology has a relatively long history in Svalbard, beginning as early as 1861. At the time, Svalbard was legally terra nullius, historically claimed by many countries, a decade before the first attempt at a permanent settlement in the archipelago, amateur research was carried out by many of the natural scientists exploring the region at the time. This first period of activity on Svalbard lasted until about 1913. Due to the used in surveying these sites, the results have little scientific value today. Following the First World Wars end, the Svalbard Treaty was signed, through this agreement Norway was established as the ruling power of Svalbard, although full rights were granted to other nationalities to engage in scientific research. Between 1933 and 1935, Helge Ingstad – later well known for discovering LAnse aux Meadows – served as the regions Governor. Christiansson believed that the findings made from 1955 and onwards proved that Svalbard had been inhabited during the Stone Age period, hansen would later add to this hypothesis, finding more supposed artefacts. Most modern scientists reject this theory, in 1958 a Norwegian-Finnish expedition led by Helmer Tegengren explored another Russian site at Trygghamna. This was the first known use of archaeology on Svalbard. A third period began in 1978, and has lasted until the present day, the Soviet Union had strong commercial and diplomatic interests in Svalbard at the time, among other things running two significant mining towns – Barentsburg and Pyramiden. The site excavated by the Soviet archaeologists, Russekeila 2, the expedition also continued research into later Russian hunting activities as well. In 1979, a project to investigate Dutch whaling history in Svalbard was started, led by Louwrens Hacquebord. During the 1979-81 seasons the expedition excavated Smeerenburg, a significant settlement run by whalers, while the old myths of Smeerenburgs grandeur were largely disproven, the project did result in many valuable 17th century finds, and new knowledge of the region. The 1980s were a period in archaeology on Svalbard. In 1984, a Danish-Norwegian expedition led by Svend E, since the 1990s, many archaeological projects have been carried out, some of them refocusing from the old 17th and 18th century structures towards contemporary archaeology